Idle Hours^sii^ssi:^ 
of o Busy iMwyer 

Bg Robert JfC. Peadroj^so 






Glass T Z.Z 
Book 

Copyright }J? 


COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 





i- ’ , 

■ f- ■ V '■ Vi ik jt- •> ••'“.* A 

/ “ < • ,<, ■’ 


3 »UJ 




■ii '-i -■ - ~ ’ *' * > 1 ^ > ( ^ 




i* 


U' 


v> 'V I ' 4'''^ * ’ A^^^'iilji 'Itt 

^ ;■ • j i iflLlI W i^-'^^ 

/ >.T,Vt-r -,4 ^ . • s*.’'> 5 ^'' ' ■ «",• ■ 


/r 


k^s 




.9 y P 










fc'V 


Ai 


1 




k i* 


? -rf'^r-"‘- 








V 


5 


f 








'I vf 









A 


^ » 


*. 


ss 


V « 

ft 


»L >> 




}.l 






■ 4 T* 




r -t^' 


«i > 








•^v\ 


» r 


r'rs 




.<. 


• i<: '• ’ » -^, 


[S'/: V ‘■'.•t. ' . ■ ■ ' ■ (• 

**'” ■ ^'CtZjr* . , k' ( * 4 ^ '‘hBBI 

■ ' - j> • ^ y . i- . 



r' ^ 


« % 


-p 


»t 






* f* I 




P 

. r ' * ' ! 


^h: 


,.Jr ^y*-*'- 

' K -''C* -H,' *• ■*' ‘ ' ■ ’'■■“U 

■i..\s ■VpNSwi* *' * . .ffc'Av 
• '"^J! ♦ Wto/ " ■ ji 










t> 


■■# *^. v* 




-,V ‘ ' * 




^ri 


^ '-y y ' 

^ra - .\ 




■f J 



if |kr ' Cv 

TEP - > * f • 









§ 


IDLE, HOURS 


OF A 

BU5Y LAWYER 

BY 


ROBERT M. PEADRO 

H 



Published by 

THE SHELBY COUNTY LEADER 
Shelbyville, Illinois 


CopyiigMed, by E. M. PEADEQ, 

rebroaiy 1910 




0 



4 


I 

i 


I 

• \ • 



\ \ 



To Whom it May Concern: 

This iittie book, ‘Mdie Hours of a Busy Lawyer/’ is 
dedicated to the busy, that they may enlarge its con- 
tents during spare moments; to those having ieisure 
hours, that they may contemplate possibilities; and to 
the public in general, as a subject of comment. 

THE AUTHOR. 


















To The Reader: 

This book is written, not with the intent to complete a 
word picture in every detail, but with the sole object of 
giving a mere outline as it were, and leaving to you 
the pleasure of filling in, with your own imagination, 
the minor essentials. Hence it may properly be char- 
acterized as mere food for thought, and in the absence 
of the text book, furnish substance for candid consider- 
ation. 

ROBERT M. PEADRO. 

Sullivan, Illinois, January, 1910. 




L' Tj 


*1 ."I 


r.v 


V 






r. • 


^ -.“i'll y** 


i . 




iT». 


1* r V 


'V 


V. 


«f 




I < 


i'?r* 




V«' 




*if 


r\' 




[£*F7rti^;:] 


V? ” t \'. l i 

to - ^vii! 


V » 


n 


> ►- 


V* K 


.4 •' % 


'^ r 


i ' 


.Vi\ 


aV 


* 


r. < 


•p '< 










‘A’ 


m 


'-»V 


.Si* 


• tr 


• » • f V* 




'K*'i 












c\>VV 




1 y 






vy 


'T.'i 




/A 


s. / 


SiSl< 


-i it 








1 ,» 


« r 


9^1 


.V 


•>/ 


aH\ 


KS 




• • I 




A 




< 


< f Wi 




^W'jK 




.• < 




V ‘ i 




. *X/»* * 

M* 


'V 


.» ■ » 


4V,J] 


:r.v 




« 4 






?VA 


•t:*’ 




v%. 


n.i 


■>K>! > 


y;* 


tT, 




’4’>. 


I » » \ 


*1 * 


r( 




V' # 


I .» 


'S • 




• « A' » *. 




K‘ 


c 


•* 


* 'N\' *:• 


• # k 


» 1 


^ ( 


pj 


'y;> 




»*• 








\ i 


«# 


» I ( 




I * •^-.T'V ^'V- . *1 Vi 


« ‘l^ 


«• *A> 




<f. 


!’♦ 


im 




A 


:H: 


.<^ 


rVtV' Aylfu 


vs- 


.*V'^ 


I 


^ J. 


w 




> • >i » 


'> *!< 


•S.C 




i' . • 


r ' V V 


.7 V 


r T 


W] 




( < 




V t 


) 






A <i 


A I 


^11 




*‘ ». 


f- 




< V 


^ » 


I i 


A: 






.At 


I • » 




t I 


• \ 






Vo 




< ' 


I.' I 






■/ 




» * ' * 


^r' 


4> 


hi 


* 'yi 




€ 


Vv 


:i.i 


* 


<1 


•o \\ 




IVi 




r 


:v ' 


!>/.. C 


k» V*.’ 


1^1 


,' I t 


-k 


f* . 








K 


’/ 


V ? 


iV • « 






7. 4 


^ I 


Sl.<’it 




(i 


LVft' 


ly 


rT Lf' 


\:, . ‘ 




'S k 








tUV 


fV 






■A 


‘A 


vil 


» 


«* »j 


y 


WV'I' 


[iv<\ 


tit' 


>i:! 


< B. 


M ' » 


,1. 


'*A* 


■‘Jf'-t 


i»‘ 


^ > I 


t • 




Wa ■ V'j* 


-i 


Wj 


H4 


». t 




%■», .(I'f! 








• t 




ti »» 


.tv 




y»f 


Jt?; 


IV 


V A . 


fei 


>»(n 


>. 


»V^ 


vt 


a 




o 










l*M 


A t, 




'/.A 


'*•■41 


lT ' f’l 


t ^ 


tv 




'.Li. 


•: . i * ' 




ir 


It 


.ii‘A, 


...il 




;vi' ^ 






A.« 




■« 


•f 


i 4V< A>4^t- ^4 !• VHKS5>tS^^ (> ^ vijfc" 

Si’ 

- < ' '* >Wv^.^ff*!r.viyCAAW: 

«(iyiwuirv:iJViir,v •b 


'i 


rilte<> 




v)' 




t i ». 


■Kv 


Vo 




*;c; 




^ . V 


■•. i. 


'f. /'.t ‘WV'V'V' 

Iv?.''- 


& 


\l 


y m 


.Pv,; tfe'. .' • :-^ .'/ ,V' 'tR;, 

.'.A’ '■^• ■ 

•1 ‘ ,• ', » ‘;l\f /', 

\.\ ''x. . }• 

I *■ -V^i ■' ".A ' 

• / >*• Il / v' J 


r.voy 




ri 


ti 




> 


•i / 


- 1 




K 


.' ^1 


'm 




(V' 


* ** > 


»A' 




• 4 


4 n> 


^T) 






-■|T 


l.f »/ 


At 




Ip •I 


:t » 




ry- 1 




I k 


Viv 


'U! 


* . 1 * 


.-i»;?r< 


frVf' 


J’.'' 






1. > 




\ M 


ttti* 


t^i 


i#A% i 


.L' iU 


• / N 


yi 


rl 


A ‘Vi 




kt 


* t 




i .* 


::i’a'#iiA 




^•mif 


1 -li 




f .• V 




(4 


« « ,1 


A 4. 






t* /< 


^:V< 


V»‘^,V: 


/ ' 


I “>• iLa.* 


m 


1'(^^^*l ' j 


V* *3 




I * hrij 


j fjVi I Vf 


J V/A 


v:> ' / . 


•Vf' 




i 


t » 






Hi# 


1 . 


I ^l 


iv 


» I « .'t 


7,/’ •• 

A' • « ' 


i 


f \ • 




m 


> li 




t T 




ifl] 


n‘ 


»_ * .' • ♦ 


^ A'/ 


» t 




ril>./-y-,v' 




-♦!!> 


[ldXi4 


14 


iti 







0apter I 


John and Mary were husband and wife, and had 
been married about twenty years. During all this 
time they had resided upon the same little farm, 
with its not over^productive soil, and with only 
such improvements as were absolutely necess'ary 
to keep them and their children from being dis- 
tressed during the long, cold winter months. 

Indeed, the work had been hard for them both 
in order that their many ohildren should be clothed 
and fed and each of them, as it arrived at school 
age, sent to the country school for three months in 
each year. This, however, they had so far manag- 
ed to do, as their health had always been the very 
best, and their doctor bills few. Now however, 
the mother's health was failing, and the father was 
unable to stand the fatigue of a long and hard 
day's toil in the fields. 

There were ten of the fat, chubby children to be 
seated at the table at each me'al, five on either 
side, while the father sat at the head and the 
mother at the foot. Besides these ten, there was 

I 


one in the mother's lap, and the baby still in the 
cradle. The oldest was seventeen years of age, 
and wdiile standing up in a row, the heads of the 
children grew higfher and higher like a flight of 
stairs, one just a little above the other standing 
next to it. It was the happiest of happy families. 
There were neither quarrels nor scufflings, and 
each endeavored as much as lay in its power to 
make all others happy. 

One day When the parental care seemed more 
than could be borne, and the long day’s toil had 
been ended, the mother said to the father; ‘'John, 
I believe if we were to place s*ome of our children 
in the ‘Resting House’ it would be much easier for 
us, and much better for the children themselves. 
What do you think of it?” 

“Well now,” said Jo'hn, “I have been thinking of 
that myself for some time, and only hoped you 
would mention the matter first, as I hesitated to do 
it on your account, and aim mow only too glad that 
you have spoken of it. I know it would be best 
for some of the smalles't ones to rest, so that it 
will not be so hard upon you and me. All the oth- 
ers will soon he large enoug^h tO' help us with the 
work, and then work for themselves, so as to earn 
their own living. Then when they have grown up 


2 


and out of t'he way, we will go to the 'Resting 
Pla'ce,’ and bring the little fellows home, and that 
will make us feel young again, as well as enable us 
to give them better opportunities than we possibly 
can do as things are now/’ 

In his manner the subject had been brought up 
and the matter finally agreed to by them both. 
And though it was a hard matter even to think of 
such a thing, when the good of the child is the 
only question for discussion and consideration, 
they, like all parents, made up their minds to bear 
the brunt themselves, each taking a secret vow 
that not by word or look should the other be 
aware of the dreadful pain they were each bound 
to suffer. 

It did not take the husband and wife long to se- 
lect the children who were to be taken to the 
Resting Place. Afer dinner the removing car was 
called, and the four smaller of the children, accom- 
panied by both father and mother, taken to the 
marble building where they were to be placed to 
rest. This was a building constructed of marble, 
with neither ,w<ood nor metal as a part. 

On the inside there were rows of marble cases 
of various sizes, into which the persons to be rest- 
ed were placed, after being put to sleep. These 


3 


four children were now taken into a room that was 
filled with some peculiar odor, which in a short 
time caused them to breathe drowsily and finally 
to fall into a .deep and quiet sleep. 

The mother and father selected the marble 
drawer in which eadh child was to be encased 
while the pahty in charge placed a soft pillow for 
each head. The children were then laid gen'tly in, 
a cover of marble placdd on top of the drawer and 
so securely sealed that neither air nor moisture 
could enter. Each of the cases was then carefully 
marked and stored away in the opening in the 
wall, in one of the miany long rows Which contain- 
ed hundreds of others. 

In a marble leafed book kept for that purpose, 
entries were made, showing the name, age and 
descripition of each child, and the time when the 
cases were to be opened. The small charges were 
paid by the father, and the two parents went sor- 
rowfully back to their home, yet fully realizing 
that What had been done was for the best. 

The les'sening of their burdens of toil, in this 
manner, soon restored heallth to the mother, and 
the assistance of the other children, as they grew 
older and stronger year by year, enabled the father 
to live with much less hard work. There were few- 


4 


er now to be clothed and fed, and small savings 
were possible. 

One after the other of the remaining children 
grew to manhooid and womanhood, and were mar- 
ried and moved to houses and homes of their own, 
until but two remained, one a boy to help the fath- 
er, and the other a girl, w<ho did the greater part 
of the housework for the molther. 

Then it was that one day the father said to the 
mother: ‘^Mary, I think we can now go to the 
Resting House, and gelt two of the children, and 
bring them home. We will get the two least ones, 
as we can care for them now without much trou- 
ble.’’ And Mary in reply told her husband, ‘T 
have myself been thinking of that for a few days, 
and have made up my mind that it is the very best 
thing which we can do.” 

So it Was that the father and mother made their 
second trip to the Resting House, whic^h they had 
visited just ten years before. When their wishes 
were made known, the marble registry book was 
examined and the proper ideritifications m'ade, the 
cases containing two of the children were drawn 
out, the seals loosened, and the two children tak- 
en into another room. Which was filled with some 
queer-smelling odors. 


5 


Here, in a few moments, the children awoke, 
and the youngest one cried out ‘‘Mamima ! mam- 
ma r' as the mother pressed i't to her bosom, and 
the other called to its papa as it encircled his neck 
witih its little armis. To all appearances and in 
fact, these two children were as fresh and healthy 
as though they were awakened from a little sleep 
on a warm afternoon in the summer time, and did 
not know that they had been kept fro'm their par- 
ents an hour. 

These two children were taken home and cared 
for by their parents, and on reaching school age 
were sent to the red school hou'se just around the 
turn in the lane. Of evenings and mornings, after 
and before school, they assisted the parents in 
doing the chores, at first, and as they grew older 
aided them in the real work itself. They grew up 
healthy and large, and in m'any ways relieved their 
parents of the greater portion of all their labors. 
This made life easy, and filled the hours with joy. 
The father’s earnings were carefully saved until he 
was able to add more and better land to his once 
little farm, and now dwelt in a home with many 
of the conveniences, while his herds of horses and 
droves of cattle were grazing in many pastures. 

It was just ten years after they had made the 


6 


second trip to the mai^Me house, and twenty years 
since the first, that the father and mouther visited 
the Resting Place for the third time, and brought 
the two remaining dhildren back to their home. 
These last two were as fresh and vigorous as they 
were on 'the day that they were taken there twenty 
years before. 

On readhing home they were somewhat sur- 
prised at the changes which had taken place, since, 
as they said, they were away getting a little sleep. 
The father’s whiskers were now gray, and the dark 
curls of the mother almost white. The house, the 
home of their childhood years, where they had so 
often played, was gone and a new one stood in its 
place. The horses and cows, the dOg and cats, 
were all alike sltrangers to them, and it required 
quite a few days bdfore they knew everyone and 
became as familiar with them as they were years 
before. Their fun and frolic went on undisturbed 
until they were grown. 

On the fiftieth anniversary of their wedding day, 
the father 'and mother requested their children, 
grandchildren and great-grandchildren to come to 
the old home and take dinner with them. Great 
preparations were made, long tables were prepared 
and twelve children, with their wives and hus- 


7 


band's, sat at one, the father at the head and the 
mother at the other end. There were twelve on 
each side and the two parents made in all twenty- 
four sons and sons-in-law, d'aughters and daugh- 
ters-in-Iaw. 

The grandchi'ldren at another table numbered 
fifty-three, while at the third table there were 
eighteen great-grandchildren. This dinner was of 
that kind which only a farmer’s wife can prepare, 
and such a one as can be enjoyed by persons 
healthy and cheerful. Every one ate to his heart’s 
content. Times past and gone were talked over, 
and plans for the future discussed by the men, while 
the women were chatting as they always do upon 
such happy occasions. The patriarchal husband 
and wife being the guests of honor, each vied with 
the others to make the occasion one to be long re - 
memlbered and cherished as the happiest hours of 
their lives. 

Like all dthers, this dinner was over, and John, 
the husband, father and grandfather, standing up 
at the head of the ta'ble, said : ‘‘My dear children 
and gfandchifldren, Mary and I have made up our 
minds that we will go to the Resting House, and 
remain for one hundred years. All that we have, 
except the sum of one thousand dollars in gold, 


8 


which we intend taking with us, we turn over to 
you. Use it as you wou'ld your own property, for 
there is nothing which any of us see here, w*hich 
will remain or be here when we return, except 
the farm. Everything else sell or use as you wish. 

‘‘As to the farm it must be used by all, each for 
one year, beginning with the oldest child ; and 
when all the children have had it each for his time, 
then the grandchildren shall use it in the same 
manner, beginning whh the oldest and ending 
with the youngest.’’ 

(Then they were bidden good bye, and the father 
and mother, accompanied by two children, depart- 
ed for the marble structure, known as “The Resting 
House.” Cases were selected, marked so as to be 
easily identified, the entry made in the marble book 
by deep c'Mseled lines, “Aw'ake at the end of one 
hundred years,” and they were taken into the 
drowsy room 'and soon fell into a deep sleep. Their 
bodies were placed in marble cases and stored 
away in the Ibng row along the side of the wall, 
there to rest till the time for the awakening came. 
The one thousand dollars was duly registered and 
deposited also in 'a place prepared for that purpose, 
to be delivered upon their awakening also. 

Year after year passed and went by, till at last 


9 


the one hundredth anniversary of the day of rest 
had come. Then the person in charge examined 
the record, brought forth the gold, drew out the 
cases containing the bodies, took them to the 
awakening department, and in a moment the father 
and mother were awakened as if from a short 
sleep. 

The husband was the first to speak, and he said 
to the keeper : '‘What does this mean ? I paid you 
for keeping us here for one hundred years. You 
have not even so m'uch as permitted us to get 
sound asleep, before you ‘Call us again.’^ But the 
keeper told them that they had been there for one 
hundred years, that he had been going by the en- 
try as shown by the record; that he knew it was 
right, and as if to convince them handed the one 
thousand dollars back which had been received for 
safe keeping. 

This, however, was not sufficient, and the hus- 
band said to his wife : “Mary, let us be going ; we 
have been here bult a few minutes, and if we hurry 
home, we will see the children before they get the 
dinner dishes put away, or their horses out of the 
barn.’’ 

It was easy to see by the expression on the good 
woman’s face, though she said nothing, that she 


10 


was not in the least pleased. But at last she did say : 
''1 had hoped to stay here long enough to be rest- 
ed up a little after getting the dinner which I pre- 
pared today, but it is a sad disappointment. John, 
let’s hurry ho'me.” 

The thousand dollars was put into the husband’s 
pocket, and upon the wife taking his arm, they 
walked sloWly towards the door. When it was 
reached they looked outside. What a change ! It 
was a new world to them. For a long time they 
gazed and looked, but said nothing. Then at last 
the husband said : ‘‘Gosh, Mary, what do you think 
of this?” But all she could say in answer to the 
:questibn wlas: “L'and sakes !” 

They then emailed the keeper, and asked him 
where their home \\^as, but he told them that he 
was only fifty years of age, and did not know, that 
they would have to ask some one much older than 
lie ^v^as. Then they asked the keeper to give them 
the name of some person living near, who could 
tell them what they wished to kn’ow ; but the keep- 
er s'aid he knew of no one in that piart of the coun- 
try who was as much as one hundred years old. 

While they were standing at the door, and won- 
dering, as though they were visitors to the moon, 
or some other distant pl'anet, a strange man came 


11 


tip 1X) them, and ‘after looking them over closely 
said, ‘‘Are you my great-great-great-great grand 
ma and grandpa?’’ 

To this question the wife 'could m'ake no reply 
except, “Land slakes!” While the husiband with 
an effort said : “I do not know who we are. Every- 
thing is so changed we hardly know whether we 
are dead or alive. All I can say is that it is John 
and Mary, and we used to live near here, I guess. 
They say we have been 'asleep for one hundred 
years, but I don’t believe it.” 

Then the man said they were the parties for 
^yhoim he was looking, and was able to recognize 
them by the pictures which were hanging on the 
wall at home, upon which the dates were written 
upon which they should be awakened at the Rest- 
ing House, and th'at he had Coime to take them 
home wJth him. 

Then he gave to each of them some little globe- 
like trinkdt wM'ch he had taken from his vest 
pocket. There was a s'm'all 'tube on one side of it, 
and he told them to blow into the tube a little and 
they would then go home. This they both did, but 
if they had been surprised on looking out of the 
door of the Resting House, and seeing the chang- 
ed condJtion »of everything wlhich they so well 


12 


knew, they were astonished now, for all three of 
them were rising far above the trees and houses, 
and sailing 'throug^h the air as easily and gracefully 
as birds. The husband and wife were so busily en- 
gaged looking around, over the changed country, 
that, wlhen the man toM them to press the little 
balls gently so they might alight, as they were now 
at home, they could not realize they had traveled 
three imiles. 

Upon their reaching the ground, the little globes 
were handed 'to the man, and by him put in his 
own pocket. John and Mary then began looking 
around, as if trying to lodate some of the various 
things which 'they had left, as it then seemed to 
them, only an hour or so before. There was noth- 
ing of the kind to be seen. Even the house had 
disappeared, and a large mansion built in its place. 
Its sides, roof, floors and all were of glass or s'ome 
kindred material, and when they entered into it, 
the firslt question asked of the man was by Mary, 
who said : ‘‘Where is the cook stove ? Why, I see 
no fireplace. What do you do when it snows and 
gets cold? What do you do about cooking your 
victuals T' 

William, for that was the name of the man who 
had called for them at the matble house, said : 


13 


'‘Grandma, you must no<t be surprised, for there 
are quite a few discoveries and improvements 
which have taken place in the hst hundred years, 
while you were resting. I will be glad to show 
them, or some of them, to you and tell you about 
them. 

"You asked about the stove and fireplace. Well, 
now, of course, I know such things were in use 
during your housekeeping time, but we now use 
neither. Come out here in the yard with me and 
I will show you where we get the heat for the 
house, wihen any is needed ; but it is seldom we 
have to use any of it at all.’’ 

“They then followed William out in the yard, 
where he pointed to a pipe sticking out of the 
ground, and said : "Some years ago I had a hole 
bored down here through the crust of the earth. 
You know, or have read, that there is a great 
lake of molten substance on the inside of the earth, 
which is very hot. As soon as the cavity was 
reached, that intense heat came up out of the hole, 
and now supplies us for all purposes. It did 
away with all kinds of artificial heats, and stoves 
and fireplaces became a thing of the past.” 

This so astonished John and Mary, that neither 
could even do more than gaze with their mouths 


14 


wide open, for a moment or two, but finally John 
drawled out: ‘'Gosh, Mary, what do you think of 
that?’' And Mary, as was her custom said: “Land 
sakes !” 

But when they looked around and saw so many 
different kinds of flowers and trees, which they 
knew grew only in tropical regions, they were so 
much amazed that they could not ask any more 
questions at all, and were only hoping that Wil- 
liam would say more to them about the strange 
things which surrounded them on every side. Wil- 
liam appeared to understand this, and started by 
saying : 

“We have these wells, or holes, all over the 
country now. In the fall of the year, when the 
weather begins to get cool or cold, we open them 
up, or at least as m'any as may be required, and 
by that means warm the whole atmosphere, so that 
there is now no more snows and but few, if any 
frosts. In fact we now have it arranged so that 
we can have summer anywhere and everywihere, 
the whole year round.” 

It took John and Mary a long while to collect 
themselves, so that they even believed they were 
at their old home. 

A river of some considerable proportions had 


15 


skirted their farm on the east, forming the bound- 
ary line, and John and Mary now went down to 
where it was, or at least where it was at the time 
they began to take their rest. Instead of a slug- 
gish current with muddy banks, they saw that all 
the water was confined to a concreted channel, and 
that instead of the gentle ripple of the once slug- 
gish current, the water was flowing so swiftly that 
they could hear it hum as it passed by. 

Near by they sat down in the shade of a tree, 
the like of which they had never seen. It was 
there that they talked over the many changes 
which had already been shown, and told to them, 
as well as taxed their imaginations t'o' their fullest 
extent in anticip'ation of whht the future might 
bring. 

After a while William came to where they were, 
and told them that supper time had arrived, and 
reques^ted them to accompany him to the house. 
There had been no woman seen on the premises 
by Mary, and this caused her to think that some 
one was going to ask her to prepare the supper. 
She was not in the least hungry after eating such 
a hearty anniversary dinner, and would under or- 
dinary circumstances have said something to Wil- 
liam to that effect ; but as matters were she con- 


16 


eluded it was best to take things as they might 
come, and she kept quiet. 

When they reached the house, William told 
them to sit down to the table. This they reluct- 
antly did, as they were surprised, indeed, since 
there was not one thing on the table to be eaten, 
and worse than that, nothing in sight which might 
be cooked or prepared for food. 

William sat at the head of the table, just as John 
had done years before, and in the self same way, 
only it was in another house than the one they 
were now in. There was a little machine-like con- 
trivance, or as Mary afterwards called it, ‘^contrap- 
tion’’ upon a three-legged stool near w'here Wil- 
liam sat. It was an insignificant looking affair in- 
deed. A package of dirt-pure earth rested upon 
the corner of the table, and a spoon lay on the 
cloth near by. When Mary saw th!at this was all 
the preparation Which had been made for supper, 
she was almost ready to get up and leave the table, 
for she knew she could n'ot live on dirt, and dirt 
alone, even if she did eat it; and more than that, 
she was not even going to try any such an experi- 
ment to please anybody, though it would be bad 
manners to refuse. 

Of course, William knew all that was passing in 


17 


the minds of his guests, and to relieve her he ask- 
ed : ‘'Grandparents, are you fond of fried chicken 
for supper?’’ And there being ndthing else to say 
under the circumstances, they both said they were. 
But as they did not see anything at all to eat, they 
were wondering where the 'fried chicken was to 
come from. 

William then s»eooped a couple of spoonfuls of 
the dirt into the hopper of the insignificant little 
machine, pushed a button, and out came the two 
pieces of fried chicken onito the plates which he 
held beneath the spouts. They were asked if they 
would like some potatoes, and to tell how thtv 
wished them fixed —fried, boiled or baked; and on 
being told, William pu<t one more spoonful of dirt 
into the hopper, pressed another button, and out 
came the potatoes just as ordered. Bread, butter 
and all other edibles which were called for appear- 
ed by the same process, simply putting m a spoon- 
ful of dirt, and by the push oif a bu'tton. 

iThis all appeared so simple and unbelievable to 
Mary that she thought she would test the machine, 
and see if it would do its work all the time, no mat- 
ter what she might order, or what might be called 
for at any meal. In her lifetime, as it might be 
called for want of a better term, she bad baked 


18 


many old fashioned ''corn-dodgers.” These were 
made oht of com meal, a little salt, and just 
enough water to thoroughly moisten, so that the 
simple compound might hold together as it was 
being tossed from hand to hand to get into the re- 
quired shape to fit into the skillet, and occupy but 
one-third of the bottom. 

She knew that there was but one way by which 
these "dodgers” could be cooked, and that was in 
a three-legged skillet which had been heated, and 
then set over some red hot coals of fire. When 
the "dodgers” were fitted in, then there was the 
skiTlet lid, with its turned up rim, placed over the 
skillet, when nearly red hot, and more live coals 
heaped upon it. Now she w^s going to call for 
some of these "dodgers,” or rather ask William, 
as politely as she knew how. So she said : "Wil- 
liam, I am very fond of 'corn dodgers’ and if you 
have any handy I would like to have one nice and 
hot, 'and also' some fresh butter to eat with it.” 

"Certainly, grandma,” said William, "this ma- 
chine is warranted to bring forth anything which 
the soil, air or water, or any combination of them 
will produce, either flesh, grain, or their compon- 
ent parts just re'ady for food, and I will try what 
I can do for you.” So saying, he again put a 


19 


spoonful of dirt into the hopper, and pushed an- 
other and different button. Sure enough, out came 
the ''dodger,” hot as you please, and looking just 
as though it had been cooked in a skillet, with the 
red hot coals both over and under it. When it was 
handed to Mary she could only say "Land sakes, 
John, what will our neighbors siay when I tell them 
about that little 'do-funny’ there on the three-leg- 
ged stool?” 

As soon as supper w’as over William asked them 
if they would not like to take a trip around over 
the country, as there were so many changes that 
some of them, at leasit, might be interesting to 
them. To this they expressed a desire to go, and 
he again handed to each the small globe which 
he had given to them at the door of the marble 
house, and told them to blow a little breath in each 
through the small stem. Off they flew just as three 
birds might. They were not alone, as the whole 
heavens were doltited here and there with persons, 
who, like themselves, were out enjoying the cool 
and refreshing breeze of the evening. 

Now both John and Mary were rather well post- 
ed in geography, as they had learned much of it 
while teaching their children in the evenings after 
their day’s work had been completed, and in this 


20 


.manner they became pret!ty well acquainted with 
the locations of 'the most important of the rivers 
and cities, and other noted places, and were all 
the while asking Willia'm as to certain of the many 
changes. Everything appeared so dif¥erent from 
what it was pictured to them, from the knowledge 
and information which they had obtained from the 
various books of geography and history. 

For instance, there was the Mississippi river, 
which now was flowing in a comparatively straight 
line from ^tlhe City of St. Louis !to the City of New 
Orleans. They had always understood that the 
channel was a full mile in width, but now it was so 
small that it appeared not more than a few feet in 
width. This, as William explained, was brought 
about by the river’s bed having been concreted 
from one end to the other, which so increased the 
current of the water that now there was mechani- 
cal power for all purposes in all the large cities 
located upon its banks. He also told them that all 
Other principal rivers had been fixed in the same 
way. 

After they had been up in the air for quite a 
while, John began to think it might be well enough 
to sugges^t to William that they go back home. 
It was possible that .they get lost, and if so, there 


21 


was no one who was able to give them the neces- 
sary inform'ation which might enable him to find 
his home, or where it was so long ago. But Wil- 
liam told them that they might as well as not take 
a nap while up in the pure air, and promised that 
he would stay awake and see that they did not 
drift out over the ocean. But Mary would not 
hear to this, and strongly insisted that they return 
home at once, which they did — sailing, sailing 
back to the old farm. 

Getting up early on the following morning, 
John and M'ary both became thirsty and wanted a 
drink of water. They went down on the side of 
the hill, where the s<pring was thought to be, and 
where it had for many years sent its little overflow 
to the creek. It was not there, and no sign of its 
former existence was to be seen. The branch it- 
self h'ad disappeared. When William saw them 
looking around he knew what it was they were 
wanting, and he told them that no one was now 
using any kind of water which came from wells 
or springs, but that they drank and used water 
from the great lakes. And when John asked him 
where the lakes were, William told him that they 
were about a thousand miles up north. Then Mary 


22 


said, ‘'Tha't is a long way to carry water, no mat- 
ter how people might go for it/' 

But Willi'a'm soon explained that there had been 
a large tube, or water main, laid in the ground, 
which reached from the very center of Lake Mich- 
igan down to and across the Island‘of Cuba; that 
the tube or main was tapped at convenient places 
and lateral pipes laid, until now there was this 
pure water carried almost all over the entire coun- 
try; that there Was no longer any town or city 
^vliich owned its own water plant, but all used 
from this vast supply, as carried through the tubes 
and pipes. 

‘‘This waiter here in the yard,” said he, “comes 
out of a small tube which is itself attached to one 
of these lateral pipes. It is always fresh and nice 
and coiol, and much more 'healthy than any which 
might be otbtained from any other source. So they 
went to the proper place, and had one of the finest 
drinks of pure lake Waiter, w'hich Mary pronounced 
as the best drink she had ever had in all her life. 

It was not long until Mary said to John, “I do 
not like to be asking quesitions all the while, but I 
should like to know why it is that we have seen no 
horses, hogs, cattle or sheep anywhere around on 
the farm. I do not understand the matter yet. 


23 


And since it seems that you will not, I am going 
to ask him myself, and find out just where he does 
keep them.” 

Now John himself had missed all these animals, 
probably before his wife spoke, but he had made 
up his mind not to cause William any more bother 
than he could help, and had for that reason 
kept moderately quiet. But he told his wife he 
was glad she was going to ask the question, for 
,Wifiiam seemed pleased when answering their 
many inquiries. 

When they all sat down to the table, and she had 
glanced at that very insignificant contraption 
^gain, with its accompanying sack of dirt, Mary 
;told William that she was very fond indeed of 
;beef steak, and would be pleased the best in the 
,w'orld if he would prepare her a porterhouse, if 
one/W^s handy. 

‘'That is all right,” said William, “the material 
for quite a nice one is here.” So saying, he put a 
spoonful of the dirt in the hopper again, pushed 
another and different button from any he had be- 
fore used for them, and in a short time there was 
one of the finest steaks she had ever seen, cooked 
to a finish, gfavy and all. But when the plate with 
its nice, juicy steak was handed to Mary, she was 


24 


so astonished that she could hardly raise her own 
hand, and would have let it fall to the floor if the 
space between her body and the table had been 
larger, so as to let it pass between them, but she was 
sitting too close for that. Finally, after taking a 
bite or two of it, and being fully convinced that it 
was sure enough steak, she had made up her mind 
to test the thing once mbre, before she would give 
it up and be convinced that the contemptible 
little contraption could do so much, as William 
certainly supposed it could. 

Then she thought of the c'owis, and how nice it 
would be for John and herself to have a glass of 
milk. She had always preferred sweet milk while 
John liked buttermilk the best. It was a hard job, 
but finally she succeeded in getting her courage 
raised to the sticking point, and where it must 
have some vent. She either had to call for milk of 
both kinds, or slay something which might possibly 
have a tendency to cause William to think that 
she had doubted some of his s^tatements. It was 
now do it or, as she thought, die in the attempt. 

''Say, William,’’ said she, "John and I used to 
be very fond of milk, indeed. He liked butter- 
milk, while I had preferred sweet milk. If you 


25 


have milked the cows, and have some handy, 
please let me have it/’ 

‘‘Certainly, certainly,” said William. “I have the 
necessary material here,” and putting a spoonful 
of dirt out of the sack into the hopper of the same 
little contrivance, he pushed a different button and 
out came her glass of swedt milk. Then he put 
another spoonful of dirt into the hopper, pushed 
'a button just around the corner of the machine, 
and out came John’s glass, brim'ful of butter milk. 


26 


0apter II 


< On the morning of the third day, John and 
Mary were up bright and early, looking around 
over their old, old homestead. There had been 
many changes and they were so apparent as to be 
easily noticeable. In fact, the changes were so 
great that the iarm ^was not in the least like what 
it once had been. They could hardly believe their 
own eyes. It seemed to them that it was but yes- 
terday, that the children had made the groves ring 
with their shouts of joy, as they ran in and out, 
up and down, and everywhere. Now there was 
not even one child to be seen. 

'‘John,” said Mary, "It is not just the proper 
thing to be always asking questions, but I am go- 
ing to ask William a few more the very first time 
the opportunity is presented. I am going to ask 
him where his children are, and learn if they are in 
the Resting House. If he has them in there, then 
I am going to tell him to bring at least two of 
them here for me to raise up. It will be so much 
more like the old home.” 


27 


John itold her that he was willing for her to ask 
anything she might wish, but for her to be sure 
and not be so inquisitive at the very start. Still he 
did not think thait the questions about the children, 
and her request for at least two of them to be 
brought from the Resting House so that they 
might be cared for by her, would be overdoing the 
matter or even out of the way. As to himself, he 
was, admittedly, a lirtle lonesome, and thought a 
couple of the children would liven up the place 
anyway. 

As for William, he had noticed that there was 
something bothering the minds of both his guests^ 
and, apparently without any intention upon his 
part walked leisurely up to where they both were 
sitting. There the very first words spoken by him 
were the ones which both John and Mary most 
wished. 

''John, or rather I should say grandpa,"' said 
he, "it certainly has changed considerably here 
since you were a boy,, or the time when you and 
my grandma were sitruggling so hard, tilling this 
farm here so as to make the ends meet year after 
year. Now if you will only ask questions, so that 
I may know that the things which I may be able 


to 'tell you about are of some interest, I will sit 
down here and tell you all I can.” 

In this manner grandma was given the long- 
wished opportunity to put her question to Wil- 
liam regarding the children, and she said : 

^'William, when John and I were here before, 
the yard was filled with children. In fact, they 
were everywhere. We had lived up to the theory 
of the good president of the United States, and 
made visible proof of our citizenship, by raising 
twelve children. It is true that it was rumored 
that there were some families w'here there were 
more children, bitt there were none such in our 
part of the country, and I sometimes believed that 
the other folks were imposing on the president by 
not sticking to the truth. John once said that the 
president had formed an ‘Ananias’ club, or some- 
thing of the kind, and that some of the other folks, 
Who claimed to have larger families than we had, 
should be initiated as charter members, or at least 
carried on the roll as honorary ones. 

“Now William, where are your children? I will 
tell you my reason for asking the question, and 
hope you will not in the least be offended. If they 
are in the Resting Hou'se, I wish that you would 
go and get two, and bring them here, so that I can 


29 


tend to them. That will make it look so much 
more like the old home. And then, if you and 
John wish to take trips around over the country, 
with your bird machines, or whatever you may 
call them, I will stay at home here with the chil- 
dren and do up the chores, and teach them to read 
and write, and such like. It would be such a 
pleasure to have them here. Do please go for 
them, William.’’ 

'‘Grandma,” said William, “if you will take hold 
of that bush , right there so that you will not fall off 
the stone where you are sitting, I will tell some- 
thing to you, which I trust will not lead to any bad 
effect, or not in the least shock your nervous sys- 
tem. People long since have quit raising children, 
that is, in the way or manner in which they were 
once brought up.” 

“The good Lord, William, hush! I do feel like 
fainting,” shouted grandma, as she clung to the 
bush to keep from falling off the stone. John saw 
the effect of the statement upon his wife, and gent- 
ly taking her arm told her it would be well for her 
to refrain from interrupting William till he should 
be through with his statement, and then told Wil- 
liam to tell them m'ore of the changes which had 
taken place on the farm. 


30 


Then said William, ‘'Well, I do not like to cause 
any excitement, or affect anybody’s nerves by 
what I may say, and which will seem so strange to 
you ; but which has come to the rest of us here so 
very gradually, by the way of but one little sur- 
prise after another, that it all caused but little 
comiment at all. The complicated scientific de- 
velopments of one day were considered of the sim- 
plest kind the next, and 'hardly worthy of notice. 
We were all keyed up to such a point that there 
was nothing in the way of discovery, or scientific 
development, which caused even a ripple of aston- 
ishment. In fact, they were all looked upon as on- 
ly the natural outgrowth of man and for the ad- 
vancement of the w'hole human race. 

“Let me see, your first term here ended, or rath- 
er you were put to sleep when Mr. Rbsenvelt was 
president. Jusft before beginning your rest you 
had in all probability heard through the newspa- 
pers that he contemplated taking a hunting trip 
over somewhere in the interior of a continent, 
which at that time was called the wilds of Africa, 
I believe.” 

“Well,” said Jobn, “that is right; the president 
was a great man.” 

William, after the interruption, continued : “Mr. 


3! 


Rosenvelt, after an enormous amount of adver- 
tising and preparation, went on his hunting expe- 
dition. It was a surprising success, but not in the 
manner that it was planned or anticipated. It was 
the very reverse. The president went with the in- 
tention of killing all the large animals he might be 
able to find, but he did not kill or destroy any of 
them at all. 

“His tents were all set up one afternoon, and all 
his firearms cleaned, and loaded, while they were 
around blazing fires after scupper, so as to be ready 
for use the following morning. This was one of 
those yellow moonlight nights when everybody 
enjoys the soundest of sleep. Just before day the 
president was awakened, as if by some one calling 
his name. Looking out of his tent through an op- 
ening, he saw one of the largest of all elephants 
standing right at his very door. He could not 
reach his elephant-gun, or any of the other fire- 
arms, as they were all on the other side of the 
tent. Jusit as soon as the president was good and 
wide awake, the elephant spoke to him and said • 
‘Mr. President, you are a big man. You kicked 
up as much dust in your own country, before com- 
ing here to our country, as a whole herd of ele- 


32 


phants can in this country, where it is always so 
dry and dusty. 

'' ‘I wish to extend to you the full freedom of our 
forests, our plains, and even the deserts them- 
selves. They have been ours for all ages. We 
have eaten leaves from boughs of the trees, and 
on their fruits we have feasted. From the brooks 
and clear streams, for centuries we have quenched 
our thirst. We all welcome you here. Many of 
my dearest friends accompany me, that we may 
extend to you our hands as a token of love. We 
now initiate you into that ancient and honorable 
order of Xove.’ 'This order is founded on justice, 
and built on doing right ; take that which is yours, 
but not that which is another’s; injustice and 
wrong can never be recompensed or made right; 
he that destroys for the mere sake of destruction 
alone, is a cruel monster indeed. 

'Here is the olive branch, we give it to you. 
Wear it next to your heart. It has neither thorn 
to give pain, nor poison to take life. Treasure it 
as you would the gift of a dying mother. Preserve 
it as if it were your passport to heaven, and the 
key to eternity.’ After finishing his friendly call, 
the elephant and all its companions quietly walked 
back in the forest. It was a long time before the 


33 


presidenit made up his mind as to just what he 
should do under the circumstances. 

‘'Then the guns were all unloaded, and they, 
with their amfmunftion, were dropped into the sea. 
Over the door of his tent the word 'Love' was in- 
scribed. The animals visited and paid him hom- 
age, and the birds sang their songs of joy without 
fear. 

“Wise men from all the countries of the earth 
were selected and called by the president to his 
forest retreat. The unlimited resources of nature, 
abounding in the forests, were discovered and 
analyzed, and the varied properties of all these 
strange plants ascertained. Just as he, in his own 
country, had made the s'andy deserts to blossom 
and bring forth fruits, so did he, on his return, 
bring with 'him in his ship, vast quantities of new 
vegetables, plants and fruits, before unknown to 
man, which in the course of time, by nurture and 
careful propogation, supplied the whole country 
with the most delicious fruits, which you see here, 
and the brig'ht colored flowers which you have 
seen in my garden. 

“The most cherishe'd of all things which he 
brought holme, was the olive branch, which he had 
received from the elephant. And now, its outlines 


34 


are traced upon his granite monument, over- 
shadowing all others, as a sytnbol of peace, while 
the towering stone itself is a token of reward, rear- 
ed in honor of the good which he did for all man- 
kind/^ 

'‘This is all very nice indeed,’’ said grandma,"but 
how about the children?” 

"Well,” said William, "as I wish to take John to 
the City of New York today, I will tell you about 
them at some other time. You can amuse or enter- 
tain yourself as you wish, in our absence. We 
will be back before the shadows mark the hour of 
three.” 


35 


chapter III 


The discerning powers of man — sight, hearing, 
touch, smell and taste, are so closely related and 
connected, and of su'ch delicate construction, that 
the very enormity of a deimand, made upon the 
one, may for the time being require the energy 
and strength of all the others to preserve from 
total destruction the one so taxed. 

So sweet may be the strains of music to the ear, 
that the unnatural demand made upon the sense of 
hearing may become so great that it alone can not 
respond, so as to be able to bear the burden alone 
and unaided. Again, the eye may be so suddenly 
and unexpectedly loaded with some appalling 
sight, by which its powers of vision are so heavily 
taxed, that the assistance of all other senses must 
be had, or total destruction of sight would in- 
evitably follow. And this is true as to all other 
senses. 

The needed strength of a bar of steel to be used 
in some great structure is ascertained by math- 
ematical Calculations, based upon known data, and 


38 


.he measured bar is so united with others as to 
form one whole. Buft where is there a structural 
architect who Would so design his temple, that 
each particular bar at times of greatest strain, 
might not be given more strength from others 
close at hand? 

So it was with John and Mary, when they met 
William at the door of the marble Resting Place 
upon their awakening. One, and only one, of their 
five senses could be used at that time. This one 
was sight. To this one the others for a time loan- 
ed all their strenglth and energy, for its preserva- 
tion. So great had been the changes, that sight, 
alone and unaided, must from its own weakness 
fail to bear the burden, and total destruction of 
necessity follow. 

And it was this which caused John and Mary 
to .give but little heed to what was taking place 
around them, and do, mechanically and unques- 
tioned, that which was suggested by William. The 
taking of simall globes tendered by William was 
only the following df a suggestion. The task 
imposed upon their sight was so great that no 
heed was taken as to how they were being carried 
or the means or method by which it was done. It 
was simply to them as a matter of course. 


37 


It is extremely doubtful whether or not, at the 
time, they in fact realized that they were sailing 
ithrough the air with the ease of a bird, and at last 
landing at their old home. 

But in the course of time their sense of sight 
had become relieved, and the powers, by nature 
belonging to the others, restored, each to its own. 
John had beco<me himself once more. When 
William proposed that they take a trip to the City 
of New York, and again requested him to take the 
little glc^be, which he handed to him, and told him 
to blow into the tube and they would fly to the 
city, John must now ask hOw it was done, and the 
means and method of its doing. 

And he said, ''William, there is one question 
which I wish to ask you. You have been so de- 
lightfully patient in answering all others to Mary, 
that I would like you to explain to me how it is 
that this little globe, insignificant as it looks, will 
enable us to rise above the hills and the trees and 
travel at our will?’’ 

"I will gladly do that,” said William. "It is sim- 
ple enough now, but when it was first discovered 
and its use began I, like the rest of mankind, had 
my doubts and could not be led to believe that 
such a thing could be done till I was forced to do 


38 


so, by actually seeing it used by others, and then 
at last by myself. 

''You will remember that I have already spoken 
of the gathering of that great body of wise and 
scientific gentlemen, by the president, in the for- 
ests of Africa, and of some of the wonderful 
achievements in the animal and plant life which 
they accomplished. 

"Now, on their return to this country that body 
of men was, by law, esta!blished as a permanent 
organization. Its members were selected on ac- 
count of their research and scientific attainments, 
from all the nations of the world. As time went 
on, this assembly was divided into several classes, 
or divisions. Those most suited and adapted for 
research along certain lines of investigation and 
discovery, were selected and appointed to such, and 
were required to dig deep into the unknown 
world and bring forth that which might be for 
the benefit of iman. 

, "Among the subjects for investigation, and for 
which one group of the scientific men were select- 
ed, was that of philosophy. The law of gravita- 
tion was the first topic taken for analysis and dis- 
section, that its various properties might be as- 
certained. 


39 


Years were spent by them upon this seem- 
ingly simple topic alone. In the end, however, it 
became fully understood. All its elements were 
found and simplified, and thus became known to 
all. Just how it might be overcome, and the exact 
method by which that could be accomplished, was 
also learned, and has now become of practical and 
daily use. It is a hidden mystery no longer, and 
so simple is the operation that it is astonishing 
that it had mot before been disc’overed by some 
school boy yet in the teens. 

‘^You would have observed long before this, 
had not all your enegeries been in use in another 
direction, that while I carry one of these small 
globes around with me, even though in my vest 
pocket, that my tread is so light that the tender 
blades of grass do not even yield to the pressure 
of my weight. 

'^The mysterious force incased within each is of 
itself, by the addition of a small amount of breath 
from the body, sufficient to overcome the power 
of gravitation. Then the body to which it is at- 
tached becomes of the same heft as the atmos- 
phere. To me, my moving about on the grass is, 
as near as I can describe it to you, like a person 
treading water. 


40 


‘‘While there is no breath in the globe, its power 
is no more than that of an equalizer of weights, 
by the process of merely overcoming gravitation. 
It is then in the nature of a mere toy; but when 
the breath is blown in, its tendency to rise is so 
increased that it is sufficient to carry any object 
to which it may be attached, along with it. 

“^There is neither strain nor pull, as if lifting one’s 
self by the arms. In fact, there is no perceptible 
difference to the one using it, as to whether he is 
standing on the top of the tender blades of grass, 
or going through the air. It is all one and the 
same. 

“If the flight is high, you simply force more of 
your breath into the globe. If you wish to alight, 
press the globe and the force will be lessened as 
the breath is forced out. The higher you may go 
the more breath is required, since the law of gravi- 
tation is, ‘the greater the altitude, the rarer the at- 
mosphere.’ 

“Now these instruments are so constructed as 
to be regulated with and adapted to the density of 
the air as found 'at the surface of the earth. Go 
tell grandma that we are ready to start now, and 
that we will be gone but a short time. Tell her 


4S 


we will try to get back before supper time, and 
that you will tell her some of the sights you will 
see. 


42 


0apter IV 


It appears as one of the foreordained principles 
established by Providence himself, that but few ex- 
traordinary men shall live at the same time. It 
is not therefore astonishing that the appearance of 
one whose talents for producing thsCt which is 
good, and entitled to be great, so far in the lead of 
what might be called the common herd of man- 
kind, should be singled out and serve as a model 
for all the rest. Such is the case at the present 
time, and ever has been since the beginning of the 
dawn of civilization. This is one of the well au- 
thenticated facts, proven by history both ancient 
and modern, secular and divine. 

The ages of discovery have had their cycles, 
while the ingenuous minds are yet in their infancy 
and constantly endeavoring, in time of peace, to so 
apply the forces of nature by utilizing its hidden 
power as to minimize its unwarranted draught upon 
the bountiful supply provided for the benefit of man. 
And in that long, long path of scientific research it 
is fortunate indeed that the stopping point of one 


43 


is the starting point of the next to follow, and this 
is as though the one first starting should be per- 
mitted to live for ages. It is the relay horse which 
is fresh, and amply able to travel at the top of his 
speed over that part of the course allotted to him 
•md there deliver his rider to the fresh one in 
waiting, that shortens the hours of travel and ac- 
complishes the desired result. 

So it was that in the establishment of that scien- 
tific organization, and its continuation during the 
one hundred years which had been passed in sleep 
by John and Mary, that such wonderful strides had 
been made in the knowledge and uses of the con- 
tents of that vast storehouse known as the world. 
It is not to be wondered at when their surprises are 
told, as the new and varied mechanical and other 
inventions and discoveries were made known to 
them by personal experiences and observation. 
And it is hardly to be doubted that when they are 
recorded in print, to be read at the fireside, even 
now there will be those who will be inclined to be 
skeptical in a limited degree. 

It was one of those fine, sunshiny days. The 
birds were singing in the swaying boughs among 
the sweet-scented blossoms of the trees, and the 


44 


fragrance of the ripening fruit was wafted high 
above the surface of the green-carpeted earth, thus 
forming a view more beautiful than the most gifted 
Can paint upon canvas. The world and its innum- 
erable beauties were passing beneath John and Wil- 
liam, as if one vast panoramic performance was be- 
ing given for their special benefit. It so interested 
John that he gave no heed to other things which 
were taking place. He was simply carried away 
with its astonishing beauty and grandeur. It was 
so different from what he had experienced, as it 
seemed to him then, only a few days before. He 
could not bring himself to realize that the one hun- 
dred years he had rested in the marble house 
should be taken into account, when considering 
the past. He was as much a stranger in a strange 
land as if he had gone to some far distant planet, 
where there was nothing to remind him of mother 
earth. Even his most exaggerated visions had been 
so far distanced that every now and then he doubt- 
ed his own existence, and inflicted some small pun- 
ishment upon himself for the purpose of self identi- 
fication. 

At last in the distance he saw simall specks in the 
sky, moving fro-m place to place, and upon nearer 
approach discovered they were persons like him- 


45 


self, though at first they appeared as a flock of 
birds. When nearing them and seeing how num- 
erous they were, he asked William as to whether 
or not there would be trouble or inconvenience in 
avoiding collisions. As to that William told him 
there was no difference whatever in the meeting 
of persons in the air than that experienced on the 
ground, when all were walking ; that instead of an 
effort to change direction by the use of his legs 
and feet, as when on foot, the same changes were 
now made and controlled by the mind alone, and 
that as he had not time now to explain the matter 
he would take pleasure in doing so at some future 
time. When he might be at home. 

But there was a surprise indeed in store for 
John, for as they reached the city at the noon hour 
millions of people rose with their little receptacles 
containing their lunches, and hastened to some 
park where it might be enjoyed at their leisure. So 
numerous were they, and so close together, that it 
had the appearance of a cloud, and shut out the 
city entirely from sight. 

This, however, lasted only a minute or two, and 
the air once more was cleared of its vast throng of 
freighted^humanity. He and William each pressed 
a small portion of the breath from the globe-like 


46 


object, alig'hted in one of the parks also, and from 
the lunch which William had prepared before they 
left home, they partook of a hearty meal. 

Years and years before John had visited this 
park, long before he and Mary were married ; but 
such a change had come over it that there was 
nothing but the name which he recognized. There 
he had watched the happy children roll their 
hoops, play ball, row in their boats, compete in 
jumping contests and ride their little ponies; but 
thatt was all changed now. Even the trees which 
he had thought would live almost forever, had long 
since decayed and others more beautiful were 
standing in their stead. As to their names he was 
a stranger, for such as these had never been seen by 
him. They were loaded with the choicest fruits, 
which the children and other visitors gathered as 
they might please; and when an apple, peach or 
other fruit Was pulled from a bongh another im- 
mediately took its place, almost as perfect as the 
one which had been taken. 

There were no graveled walks or signs to keep 
off the grass. They were now useless, as the play- 
ing children flitted about with the grace and ease 
of the humming bird, and did as little damage to 
the flowery beds over w^hich they passed. When 


47 


John went to the old swimming pool where he 
himself had bathed, he saw the people flitting 
about upon its surface as though it were a frozen 
mass of ice and they were skaters upon its glassy 
surface. The boats were gone, and in their place 
were machines filled with laughing crowds, and as 
they traveled on the smooth surface without so 
much as causing a ripple, it only increased his 
astonishment. 

So much that was so strange and new to him 
had by this time been seen by John that William 
could understand from the expression of his face 
that he was beginning to doubt if he should ever 
again see his wife and be at their home. The hu- 
man mind can only stand so much of a strain, and 
as the limit had almost been reached, William 
again told him to blow in the globe and they 
would return home, so as to be there in the early 
evening. This they both did, and rising far over 
the city, sailed away for their home. 


48 


(Hapter V 


While William and John were gone on their trip 
to the City of New York, Mary had in a quiet way 
been making investigations on her own responsi- 
bility, in and about the premises. This of course 
she had a perfect right to do, not only because it 
was her old home, but before leaving in the morn- 
ing William had told her that she might look 
around and amuse herself just as she saw fit during 
their absence. » 

She first watched the two sail away, just like she 
had so often seen pigeons and doves do before, 
and when they were entirely out of sight she said to 
herself that she would look over the farm, and see 
just what changes had been made during her ab- 
sence, or stay of a hundred years in the marble 
house. The sun was shining just as it had done a 
hundred years before, and the gentle flower-scented 
breeze tempted her to start for her bonnet, which 
had been left in the house. 

In going to get it she passed first through the 
room where they had dined several times, where 


49 


the curious producing and cooking combination 
rested upon its small, three-legged stool, near 
where John sat when a't the taible. This she looked 
at for a little while, but could not get her own con- 
sent to handling it, as that might in some manner 
get the machine out of order, and she would not 
be able to repair it, as she was an entire stranger 
to its construction and the mysterious workings of 
its innermost parts, which she had described to 
John as a “do-funny-setting-on-a-three-legged- 
stooV 

The next room visited was the sleeping apart- 
ments of herself and her husband. As she had al- 
ready spent two whole nights in it, there was but 
little of interest which had not been fully examined 
by her, and it appeared to be just about the same 
kind of household furniture which she had owned 
and used before she had taken her rest. 

But there was a door opening into this room 
from the one where William slept, and she thought 
that it might be that the early start which he and 
John had taken that morning had prevented Wil- 
liam from making his bed, or otherwise putting his 
room in order. This she would do now, and make 
William feel that she had not forgotten how a 
house should be kept in order. Besides, he would 


50 


think that she was useful about the premises, too, 
and that would relieve her from some of her em- 
barrassment, at least ; for she had always entertain- 
ed no special liking for one who was not willing to 
make his own way, or was inclined to sponge off 
of others. 

So she went into William’s room, not in the least 
as an intruder, but as one having a perfect right. 
She felt as though she wias going tb bestow a kind- 
ness upon him, as well as perform a duty devolving 
upon herself. It was this consciousness that nerv- 
ed her on, though she did have a queer feeling or 
intimation somewhere about her, that she ought 
not to intrude. But now she was in. The furni- 
ture was not such as she had used in her own room, 
either in appearance or construction. There was a 
table, chair, lounge, bed and the usual coverings. 
But what frail looking things they were ! It ap- 
peiared to her thiat they were constructed of straw, 
such as grow in the o'ats, rye and wheat fields, and 
would not even bear the weight of a hand, let alone 
being used for the purposes for which such articles 
were usually made. 

There was John’s one thousand dollars in gold 
on the table, and she had not so much as thought 
of it since the man at the marble building had 


51 


handed it to him after they were awakened. She 
must see it, yes, she would count it over so as to 
be sure there had not been any of it held back b\ 
the man, for she knew 'that John himself had not 
taken the trouble of seeing that the amount was 
exactly the same. 

So on going close up to the table she began 
picking it up one piece at a time with her right 
'hand, and placing the shining pieces in the left one, 
until they were all counted and found to be right. 
More than that, right beneath the pile of gold she 
found one of the same kind of little globes which 
she had used when she came home over the houses 
and hills, with her husband and William. It look- 
ed so simple, that she at first was in doubt as to 
whether it was one fully completed, or one which 
had only reached that stage in its construction 
which is termed ‘‘started.” 

She had gone this far, and now it would not do 
any harm if she made a further investigation, and 
learned on just what principle the thing worked, if 
it was one, she tho'Ught. 

She picked it up with her right hand while the 
left still hdd the gold, and was a little surprised 
she did not experience some sort of a shock; bur 
the only thing which she could perceive was that. 


52 


as soon as she had it in her hand, the gold seemed 
to lose its weight, and he of no heft at all. That 
was pleasing indeed to her, and she was agreeably 
disappointed, as some people are who do but little 
damage while doing wrong. But there was that 
little tube on the side, just like the one she had 
used, and into which she had ^^puffed” a little air. 
The more she looked at it, the simpler the ‘^con- 
traption,’’ as she now called it, appeared. A little 
ball about the size of a walnut, with a short tube 
about half an inch long on one side. How simple ! 

She raised it to her mouth for the second time 
before she could get her mouth partially filled with 
air, and her courage to that point which would 
permit her to blow just a small amount of breath 
into it. More than that, she was in the house ; but 
of course she would not even like to go up to the 
ceiling. After a few minutes’ more examination 
she placed the tube in her mouth, and gave just 
one of those littlest of little puffs into the tube. 
As if by magic this aged great-great-great-grand- 
mother was lighter than a feather, and rose to the 
ceiling of the room with all the grace of a bird. 
There, with her back to the wall of the ceiling, 
was this aged lady, with the gold in one hand and 
the little instrument of disappointment in the other. 


53 


looking down at the floor. She had her mental 
faculties sharpened as 'though they were now dia- 
mond pointed. What had she done, and how she 
should undo it, were of such importance to her, 
magnified as they were by the query as to what 
would John and William say, should they return 
and find her in that position. The dresses and 
other apparel of a modest lady were never so con- 
structed as that 'they would always remain as de- 
signed, when the wearer, by accident or otherwise, 
should try to lie down on the ceiling of a room. 
And there never was a woman whose apparel be- 
came displaced, who did not take her hands and 
try to restore it to its proper position. This had 
always been true till now. Even at this critical time 
it wa's not neglected from a desire to avoid it, but 
was brought about sole'ly by her ftwo hands being 
otherwise engaged — the one holding the coin, and 
the other the object of all this inconvenience. 

She was directly over the frail stand table, and 
its construction was known by her to be such that 
it would withstand but very little strain. The 
weight of the gold would certainly smash it to the 
floor. She would not, she could not endure such a 
catastrophe as that! No, she would hold on to this 
gold. More than an hour passed, and s'till her back 


54 


was as close to the wall of the ceiling as before, or 
at the time of first coming. It was awful, and the 
dread of what might happen was fast becoming 
unbearable. 

Time and time again nature had made applica- 
tion to give her ease and release her from her woe- 
fully embarrassing position, but she would not ac- 
cept it, for she as often had shut her teeth and vow- 
ed by all that was good, that she would not and 
should not faint. At last she was forced to let 
the gold drop; and true to her worst aipprehension, 
it fell squarely on the table and crushed it to the 
floor, as though it had weighed a ton. 

Poor grandma ! The perspiration began to stand 
out Upon her face in great drops, and her limbs 
were getting benumbed. Cold chills chased each 
other up and down her back, while she herself was 
becoming more and more desperately frantic. She 
had now one free hand and with it she had suc- 
ceeded in moving a little, and by a great effort 
managed to get ndar the corner and just over the 
bed. Should she fall now, what would become of 
this bed? Would it be completely destroyed, as 
had been the table? She with her one hundred 
and eighty-seven pounds avoirdupois, might even 


55 


do more than that. She might crush through the 
frail-built and glassy house. 

There she was, full ten feet from the floor, and 
there she would remain as long as she held to the 
little globe. To let it fall was easy. She knew all 
that was necessary was to squeeze it a little and 
down it would go, or at least she thought she knew 
it. But there was a trouble again — what if she 
should light on top of the bed? 

Now think for a minute : Here was a lady fully 
seventy-five years old. She had been reared on a 
farm and lived there all her life, except the time 
which had been spent in the marble house. As 
to that time she did not know whether to count it 
as so much time which she had lived, or not. She, 
with all her age, pride and self-will, was up there 
and could not get down in any manner which she 
could figure out, with safety to herself and the bed 
below. Yet so»mething had to be done, for as vig- 
orous and strong as a giant may be, there is a limit 
upon his endurance which, when once reached, ren- 
ders him powerless as a babe. 

Grandma had now reached her limit. She gave 
the tiny ball a little squeeze and sank downward 
to the bed, as light as a feather. Her pleasure 
knew no bounds. But she, like all others of her 


56 


kind are apt to do When a vast strain is taken from 
the nerves and a great load lifted from the mind, 
did just what she should not have done. She stood 
on the bed almost ready to shout, and was going 
to clap her hands for joy; but as they were nearly 
together the hand holding the little ball automatic- 
ally opened and grandma, with a crash, went 
through the bed to the floor. 


57 


(Rapter VI 


It was that sense of womanly pride for well do- 
ing and in (faring for each and every article, w’heth- 
er useful or ornamental, which had been entrusted 
to her care, that for years had been one of John’s 
happiest subjects and topics of conversation, when 
mentioning Mary’s innumerable excellent qualities 
to those of his neighbors who were less fortunate 
in the selection of a wife. She had often heard him 
talk in her presence, and oftener still the state- 
ments whidh were made in her absence, were re- 
peated to her and it Was the full realization of this 
which now caused her to fear that she would hear 
it no more. 

As she fell through the bed, the kst bit of breath 
in the small instrument had been forced out, and 
there it lay am'ong the rubbish. Just what she 
should do now was as much of a query as when she 
wa's forced against the ceiling of the room. If she 
again picked up the instrument, would it not take 
her to the ceiling again? And for all she knew, 
might it not by chance take her through the door 


58 


and out of the house, and then even carry her 
away? 

Wlhile these questions were being asked over 
and over again, in her mind, and she was making 
the most desperate attempts to formulate some 
kind of an excuse or apology which might in some 
way tend, or at least in part tend to justify or less- 
en the enormous consequences of her experimental 
disposition, and keep from her fair name the appel- 
lation of a meddler, she was gradually backing to- 
wards one of the chairs. On reaching it she sat 
down. Yes, she s'at down. The frail Ohair, like 
the stand table and bed, was broken into a thousand 
pieces, and grandma found herself sitting upon the 
floor. 

''For the lands sakes,'’ exclaimed Mary, "am I 
a mad bull in a china clolset? Is it possible that 
before Jdhn and William return all the contents 
and the house itself will be wrecked by me ? What, 
oh, what sh'ail I do? Poor me ! poor me ! I almost 
v/isih that I had not been wakened, and if it was not 
for John Pd go right back to the marble house and 
lest for a thousand years. Indeed I would, indeed 
I would.’’ 

It was w'hile in this position, sitting on the floor, 
with her mental faculities about to collapse, that 


59 


she made up her mind, or ratlher fhe merest rem- 
nant of her mind, that a breath of fresh air would 
do more toward the restoration of her shattered 
nerves than all the grieving over the things which 
had been done and for w'hidh there was no help, 
than anything else. Acting on this suggestion, 
she crawled back out of the house, just as she had 
come in. She was in such a condition that she was 
actually afraid to even Walk on the fldor, for fear of 
breaking through. She would not so much as take 
a look at any of the artidles as she was passing 
out, for fear that her sight alone might bring on 
their destruction. 

On reaching the yard, she .clasped her hands 
over her heart, and looking toward heaven, said 
aloud, ^Xands sakes. What will they say, what will 
they say?” 

It is not possible even to conjecture the full con- 
sequence of this ill-ttimed and awful experience. 
ha(i not something dlse taken place at that mo- 
ment, which had a tendency to and did direct all 
her attention, and that, too, so completely as to re- 
lieve her mind of this terrible strain. 

As s<he was loioking up, she saw a great manv 
small objects flitting about in the air, so far above 
her. As they came closer and closer, she saw they 


60 


were beings like herself. Gradually tihey came 
nearer and nearer to the earth, and finally selected 
the flowery glarden, William’s chief pride among 
all his possessions, as their lighting place. To this 
garden, on the day before, William had taken his 
grandm'a and explained (to her many of the most 
beautiful varie!ties of flowers she had ever seen. 
Hundreds upon hundreds were in full bloom, and 
they were so large that they seemed to carpet the 
entire garden. It had been hard indeed for her to 
pass along the narrow walks, although she lifted 
miany of the tenderest plants aside. And now what 
would this great multitude of persons do ? There 
they were, following no path, but crossing and re- 
crossing anl even . dancing upon them. Grandma 
had been entrusted with the care of the house, the 
home and all, for the day. She was its keeper, and 
must of necessity be responsible to William on his 
return. 

Now she, like any other resolute woman, started 
for the garden fully determined to control herself 
if possible, and the others as well. There was one 
thing w^hich Was settled, and that was that the in- 
truders should leave. They were jumping, run- 
ning, turning hand springs, and even playing leap 
frog over the rarest and finest fl'owers. They were 


61 


having an old-fashioned picnic and like everbody 
who has ever gone to such a place, they were not 
welcome, and not wanted at all. 

Just before she reached the garden wall, one of 
then came to it and said to her : ‘‘Grandma, I 
see you are in trouble, and I will rig^ht the matter 
for you. While you sit here and see us enjoy our- 
selves. If you will just look at these young folks 
enjoy themselves, it will come around so you will 
be as happy as any of them. We will not in the 
least injure any of the flowers, or anything else. 
You see that William is one of the nicest of persons 
and has the finest flower garden in the world. He 
is so kind, too, that he has invited us to come and 
enjoy ourselves whenever we want to and as often 
as we please.” 

At this grandima took a seat on a large stone and 
watched the young folks hlave their fun and frolic. 
At first she was a little puzzled as to how it was 
that they were getting around over the flower beds 
as they did, and at the same time doing no' injury. 
In fact, their weight did not cause even bending of 
the stems of the flowers which they would now and 
then stand upon. But she saw in a little time that 
each of them had one of the little instruments just 
like the one she had used in leaving the marble 


62 


house, and the same as she had found up in Wil- 
liam’s room. 

She had observed tdiat the young man who had 
been talking to her had taken from hiis pocket an- 
other little thing, aboult the size of one of the 
pieces of gold which she had let fall on the stand 
table, and placing it to his mouth, appeared to be 
talking into It, though she could hear no sound. 

In a few moments the young man caime to her 
again and asked her if she had not been in trouble 
a short time before, up in William’s room. This 
was a surprise to her, for she had said nothing 
whatever to him about her experience with the 
Stand and the bed, or the gold, or breaking of the 
furniture, but she could n'dt get the matter out of 
her mind and had been thinking of the sad event, 
feeling very bad over it all the time. 

There was one thing grandma had always done, 
and she had no reason to quit at this time ; so she 
tol'd the young man just what had happened, and 
how she hated it, how bad she felt over it, and 
how distressed she certainly would be when John 
and William came and saw w'hat she had been do- 
ing. Then the young man said he had fixed the 
m'atter for her, and for her to think no more about 
it. He also asked her to acco'mpany him to the 


63 


room so 'tfiat he might show her the same had 
been done, and thus relieve her mind entirely. 

At this grandma had all kinds of feelings of mis- 
trust toward the young man. She thought he 
might be trying to get into the house and then car- 
ry away all the gold, and might possibly do greater 
mi'sichief thhn she herself had done. But there was 
but one thing to do, and that was follow him, as he 
had already started, and so she went slowly after 
him, with all kinds of terrible appre'hensions in her 
mind. 

When they had reached the toom where the 
stand and table and chair had been so completely 
demolished by her, to her amazement she saw they 
were all in the same condition as when she had 
first entered the room. More than that, the gold 
was in the same little stack, over the same small in- 
strument on top of the stand table. Now she was 
amazed ! She did not know what to say or do, but 
had made up her mind in a moment not to bring 
about another such a state of affairs as she had 
once done, so she requested the young man to 
Come out of the room at once with her, so she 
migiht shut the door. This he did, and they went 
back to the stone, where she sat down and looked 
at the merry-makers in the flower bed and watched 


64 


their funny and amusing antics until they had their 
fill of pleasure and were ready to leave. 

Then again tlhe young man came to her, and 
told her that he would explain to her what was giv- 
ing her so much trouble. He told her that he had 
read her feelings and knew what was on her 
mind, when he had first met her. He said that 
w’^hen she s'aw him take the little circular instru- 
ment out of his pocket, he did that for the purpose 
of having one of the merchants in a distant city 
send her tlie same kind of furniture that she had 
unintentionally broken, and place the same in Wil- 
liam’s room, carrying away the broken parts of 
that which had been destroyed, and that that had 
been done before he invited her to take him to the 
room. 

At this statement grandma threw up her hands, 
and tried her best to say something to him, but the 
only words which ‘she could possibly utter were, 
‘'Ijands sakes, What will they isay!” 

The young folks now flew away, and she was 
again alone. She went into the garden to make 
sure there had been no injury to the flowers, and as 
soon as she was satisfied that they were all as per- 
fect as when William had shown them to her, she 


65 


breathed one long breath and again expressed her 
surprise by saying, ‘‘Lands sake, what a place, 
what a place!’’ 


66 


0apter VII 


It was but a very short time after the departure 
of the visitors wiho had the picnic in the flower gar- 
den, that grandmia saw William and Joihn coming 
out in the yard, wlhere she siat upon the grass un- 
der one of the trees, earnestly thinking over the 
strange occurrences of the day. While seated there 
she had raised her knees so that wihen she placed 
her hands upon them she could rest her head, and 
by shutting her eyes completely close the world 
from view and thus be enabled to think without in- 
terruption. And this is the reiason that she did not 
sooner see Willliam and John as they came toward 
her. 

The first words were spoken by William, and he 
said: ‘‘Grandma, how have you enjoyed the com- 
pany of your great-grCat-great-great granchil- 
dren today? I made special arrangements for 
them to come to the garden and have their picnic ; 
but as I did not think of it before Joihn and I had 
started, I just called them up as we were going 
and told them that it would help entertain you if 


67 


they shbuld come, and they promised to do so, 
thanking me for the privilege as (they were starting 
off to go to their homes. 

‘‘Lands -sake, John said Mary, “what does this 
mean? Does William know jusst what has taken 
place here today? Does he know all about it?” 

“Why Grandma,” said William, “I do not want 
you to worry any more about what has happene 1 
here while we were gone. The breaking of the table, 
chair and bed is a matter of no consequence, and 
besides, one of the young gentlemen had it all re- 
paired, s'o that it is as good as ever. So come 
along, and we will go in the house and have our 
supper, for you must be hungry, since you have 
eaten nothing today since we left, and John and I 
had only a smaJl lunch. So come on in.” 

There was nothing else to do but go in and sit 
at the table if she wanted to retain the good graces 
of William, though she did it with some de- 
gree of reluctance. But William was in the best of 
humor, and the supper was prepared in the same 
little buttoned machine which sat on the three- 
legged stool near the end of the table. Grandma 
was so asitoniished at wthat William had said to her 
that she was afraid to do much talking. She was 
thinking of some questions to wihich she intended 


68 


trying to get an answer from John just as soon as 
supper was over. Tihe meal finished, she asked 
John to come ou't in the yard, as she would like to 
speak to him alone for a little while. They 'both 
went out and s'at down on the grass under the 
shade tree, and Mary began. 

‘'John,’’ said she, ‘T can^t get the hang of things 
here at all. Hbw did William know anything 
about w<h'at happened in his bedroom ? Did you go 
in there before you came to where I w'as, when you 
got back from New York?” 

“No, Mary,” said John, “we had not gone into 
the room before we Oame to you. What has hap- 
pened Up in his room? H'as there been a fire, or 
has he been robbed and somebody carried away 
something? I’d like to know Something myself, 
for all I can think of ou!t of the w'ay is that as we 
were starting home I saw William take 'some little 
round thing, about the size of a dollar, out of his 
pocket, and as he smiled, said to some one : ‘Oh, 
don’t let her worry over it, for you can get some 
new ones while she is looking at the others having 
the frolic in the garden.’ ” 

“For lands sakes!” said Mary, “did you hear 
William say that?” “Yes,” said John, “but what 
is it that makes you sb excited ?” 


69 


‘‘Well, lands sakes, John!'’ said Mary, “if you 
knew all that I know, you would be somewhat be- 
wildered yourself. I have had an awful time here 
today all by myself, and if it had not been for you 
I do not know but that I would be in the Rest 
House, to be awakened at the end of a thousand 
years." 

“Well now, Mary," said John, “if you have seen 
many more strange things than I have witnessed to- 
day, I can hardly teU how you can even be as well 
as you really are. Why, I saw a million people all 
flying thr'ough the air at once, and all going out to 
the park to eat dinner, carrying small lunch bas- 
kets, and just ready to sit down and eat dinner as 
soon as they alighted on the ground. William and 
I ate our lunch with them, and saw so many fine 
flowers and other things that it would take me a 
very long time to (tell it all to you. The strange 
part of it was that the people who had come there 
did not try to keep in any path, but went over and 
on top of the flowers, just the same as though they 
were walking out on ithe gravel walks, and did not 
even bend the flowers down at all." 

“Well now, John," said Mary, “that ain’t any- 
thing strange, for there was a party of young folks 
came here and danced all over William’s fine flow’- 


70 


er garden and did ncyt hurt it at all. And one of 
them fixed up everything in the rOom which had 
been smashed all to pieces by me, in a minute. But 
I do noit know where we are. If we are dead, we 
ouglhlt to know it ; and if we are alive and back 
home, we certainly shbuld be finding it out by this 
time. I tell you, I am going to ask William the 
very first chance I get, and have some more ex- 
planations, or I am in favor of taking the thousand 
dollars, hunting out some new location and clear- 
ing up another farm, just as we did this one a long 
time ago. 

“Why, I do not mind telling you much, but in 
that room I had a terrible time. I was up against 
the ceiling for most of the day, laying flat on my 
back and thinking all the time that you and Wil- 
liam mig^ht come in and see .me. And you know 
how my dress would have been flopping around, 
so you could see my stoickings. Then me setiting 
on the floor looking at all the things broken to 
smash, and afraid to even throw the rubbish out of 
doors, or try to clean up the room. Why John, 
land sakes, I do not believe I can stand this much 
longer. We will have to go somewhere. It won’t 
do, I tell you, it won’t.” 

Just then William came up smiling, and said: 


71 


‘'Grandma, I have been out today showing John 
some of the changes which have been made since 
you lived here before, and I tell you he would 
hardly believe his own eyes. Now that you are 
bo'tih here together, I will make some explanations 
which will let you see into some of the things 
which appear to be so mysterious to you now, and 
will tell you so you can get the hang of our man- 
ners and customs and the Way things are done 
now-a-days. 

"In the first place, you used the little ball which 
I gave to you at the door of the marble house, and 
by having the actual experience with it, you saw 
how it worked. But as to itts different parts and 
the manner of its construction, there is no reason 
why I sh*ouW go into details now. It is enough 
that you know that it tvill suspend or counteract 
the law of gravitation. A's to how long it required 
that scientific body to perfect it, is a matter of no 
concern now that it is perfected and in every day 
use. 

"But there is another thing .which I wish to tell 
you about, as I know you are eager to know how it 
was that the young man knew what had happened 
to you wlhen you were up in my room. You saw 
him take from his pocket a small instrument and 


72 


put it to his mouth, and probably heard him say a 
word or two, al thought it w'as not necessary for 
him to speak very loud. 

''With this he spoke to me while John and I were 
sitting in the park at New York, and told me that 
he had read on your face and from the expression 
of your eyes, just what had taken place in the 
room, that you h^d been up on the ceiling for quite 
a while, and had hard work to get your own con- 
sent to press the little gtlobe so that you could get 
down, and all abbult the furniture. I then told him 
to have it replaced, speaking in and through the 
same kind of an instrument which he had used. 
Then he said he would entertain you at the Wall 
of the garden, so that you would not know when 
the new things were brought and placed in the 
room and the broken ones removed. 

"Now I will show you one of the speaking in- 
struments such as we used, but you must not, as 
yet, try to use it. You are getting along just as 
well as any other person in the world under the 
strange circumstances, for we all know that when 
people are taken from the miarMe house, they are 
not acquainted with all the improvements and dis- 
coveries which have been made during the time 
they were resting. So you must realize that the 


73 


information must be given to you a little at a time. 
Or, in Other words, the mind of a person can only 
grasp so much at one time, and if the attempt be 
made to feed i't faster than it -ean digest the infor- 
mation, something serious is liable to happen, such 
as some of the mental machinery getting out of re- 
pair. 

‘'The young people you saw dancing in the gar- 
den were all your great grandchildren or their de- 
scendants. They had requeslted me to have them 
come and call on you, for they all wanted to see you 
and hear you talk, and (tell just how you had kept 
house and raised your family, and how it was that 
you cooked your victuals, canned your fruit in the 
summer and kept it for use in the long winter 
months, which they have read about so much in 
their histories. Of course, it is only the oldest of 
them who can read out of a book, for methods of 
teaching children have undergone as much of a 
change 'as anything else, if not a little more so. 

‘T think that you must have noticed that none 
of the young people you saw here in the garden 
did any talking, exceplt the one Who had the con- 
versation with yourself.’^ 

“‘No,’' siaid grandma, “they diid not talk at all, 


74 


and I could not help thinking that it was because 
they could not/’ 

‘‘Well now, I will tell you about that,” said Wil- 
liam. ‘'We do not now have to use the voice at all, 
when we are close enoug‘h to the person with 
whom we desire to talk, thiat the eyes and face can 
be seen. It is a reading of thought without the ex- 
pressing of them in or by words. You know there 
is only a little noise made when we talk in a mod- 
etalte tone of voice, and it is that noise whidh you 
and I contrue into the thought itself, which the one 
conversing with us is trying or endeavoring to 
convey. 

“It Was the same scientific gentlemen of whom I 
have spoken, who, by the careful study of the ani- 
mals and their mdans of conversing, at last led up 
to the asitonisihing fact that a m!an had a worse 
method of conversing with his fellow man than 
even the very lowest order of the animal creation 
possessed. Of course, it was astonishing and hu- 
mili'ating at firsit, and the statement alm'o'st led to 
the dissolution of the whole body of scientific gen- 
tlemen ; but in a short time they seemed to be will- 
ing that some experiments might be made, and the 
matter be Settled in th^ manner. 

“For the experiment, as it Wa's then called, a 


75 


great number of young men and w^men were se> 
lected. These were obtained by means of exam- 
inations which were conducted all over the coun- 
try, and from among the various applicants who 
might possess the finesit nerve centers in their 
make up. After the requisite number had been 
chosen, they were offered I'arge rewards if they 
would in every w'ay comply wi'th the strict rules 
which were adopted, and by which they were to be 
governed dur'ing their time. 

‘‘Each was required to select another, with whom 
he was ready to be locked in a room for one year. 
They should have no conversation with ea'Ch other, 
or with anyone on the outside, and the place where 
they were confined Was so remote that no human 
being Was to be permitted to get close enough to 
be seen. Of course, there was the enclosure, which 
was free at sitated times so th^t they mig^ht take the 
necessary exercise to prevent the loss of health ; but 
that was all. 

“The women were placed in room's in pairs the 
same as the men, and while there were some of 
them who could not stand the strain for the full 
year, there were a great many who diid. It was re- 
quired of them that when they were released, if 
they were able to converse by thought alone and 


76 


without any signs or spoken words, they should re- 
ceive a sufficient amount of funds to enable them to 
live a't ease for and during their lives, with one 
provision, however. TIhat provision was that each 
of the men should be willing to and did marry one 
of the ladies Who had served the same apprentice- 
ship as he had. In addition to this, there was a 
bounty given for each child that should be born 
to them, and then there were some extraordinary 
inducements to the parent or parents Who should 
succeed in raising the child or children without the 
use of sound or sign, to converse with olthers rais- 
ed in the same manner. 

' '‘Neither you nor any other person who did not 
know the same to be a fact, will believe that the 
whole scheme worked like a charm, and when the 
year Was at an end, these young people were mar- 
ried and pledged to use no sound or sign when 
conversing with eadh other, under a penalty which 
led to the stopping of their pension if the pledge 
were violated. 

"As soon as the institution had turned out one 
set of graduates, that is, as soon as the parties had 
remained in it for one year, there were others 
ready to take their places, and so Ithe process was 
kept in such a flourishing condition that dthers 


77 


were established in all partis of the country, and it 
was not many years until it became a fad to be 
able to read the mind, as it was called. Then i/t be- 
came a sign of good breeding and the rich heartily 
approved of the method, sending all their children 
to the institutions to have them acquire tha/t art. 

'Tn the course of a great many years, the poor 
as well as the rich had to use that method of com- 
munication of ideas, and it became considered a 
disorderly act to speak odt loud in the presence of 
company. It was by that mdams that the reading 
of thought became universal without speech or 
sign, which is df much greater convenience under 
moist all circumstance's. Except when the parties 
are not close together it is now universially used 
amiong the most enlightened people all the time ; 
but wihen you wish to co'mmunicate with some per- 
son who is far off, you use the small, flat instru- 
ment, as was done by the young man today, when 
he was speaking to me while I was in the City of 
New York. I Will miore fully explain the m'atter 
to you at some other time, when we have leisure.” 


78 


0apter VIII 


After taking a good sleep on the night following 
her experiences of !that, to her, eventful d'ay, Grand- 
ma was up bright and ear'ly in the morning, and 
fully de'termdned thiat she would put a few more 
questions to William as to the manners and cus- 
tomis which appe'ared to her to be in vogue, and 
which were giving her surprises all the while. And 
of her intentions she plainly told Jo'hn. Now John 
was an unu'su'ailly cahtious individual, and had al- 
ways been disposed to experiment and find out 
many things for himself without taxing another 
for explanations. When he suggested this to his 
wife, she only said, ^‘Now John, do you suppose for 
one minute thiat I will gelt myself in the kind of 
position that I was in yesterday, when if I had had 
my own Way about it we would have learned all 
about most of the things by this time? No sir, I 
will not have ilt or anything like it h'appen to me 
any more. I am bound to Wave it told, and told 
right away.’’ 

When they sat down to breakfast she Was ready 


79 


with a question, and asked William what was the 
matter with the country, as she had noticed no 
school house, and worse than that, no children 
going to and from school. 

William replied : “It will take quite a long time 
to fully explain that to you, but I will begin now 
and tell you some about it this time, and some 
other time explain the matter mOre fully.’’ 

Grandma told him to go on, and this is about 
what he said : 

“You rememiber what I said to you about the 
people being in's/trudted so that they were enableci 
to read the mind, and were not then required to^ 
use speech or isigns, and the manner in which they 
had taught their dhildiren to do the same thing? I 
will now tell you that for a great many years there 
has been no such thing as a school, as there was 
at the time you were raising your children. 

“By a similar process it was ascertained by these 
scientific men that it was possible to absorb infor- 
mation by one mind directly from another, by the 
simple process of inoculation and association. All 
you have to do now, is to take from the veins of 
one who is learned in any profession or calling, 
some of his or her blood and inject it into a child 
and let the child remain or associate with the 


80 


scholarly individual in a closed room for a limilted 
length of time, when it is found that the child pos- 
sesses all the know'ledge and informtation upon 
every suhjeat possessed by the one from Whom the 
blood Was drawn and with Whom the asso'ciation 
had taken place. 

‘‘Now I know that this mlay seem strange to you, 
but you will remember that in you former residence 
here it wias well understood that the association of 
dhild'ren, the one with the other, always had some 
such effedt as that of spoiling a very good boy by 
permitting him to associate with those po'ssessiing 
rude ideas and ways which were not in the least 
desirable for your children to have. And it was 
this same scientific association, that made this dis- 
covery, or rather discovered the uses to whidh 
this niatura'l tendency of the child might be used 
to its advantage. Not only thht, but the long and 
tiresome delay formerly necessary in letting the 
child attend school year after year, has entirely 
been disposed of. 

“There is, too, a more satisfactory result which 
has been brought about in this line. A parent, or 
one entrusted with the care and raising of a child 
now, can select his type of a man Which he or she 
desires his or her child to be mode'led after, and 


81 


one possessing the information which it is desir- 
ed to be imparted to the child, and have the opera- 
tion performed without any danger of having the 
child acquire any knowledge of such a kind or 
character as will be a detriment to it in its after 
life of usefu'lnes's. 

‘‘As a matter of course, it w‘a‘s a long time be- 
fore this system was so completed that it became 
one of the fixtures of ouir civilisation, and arose to 
that class of scientific research which placed it out 
of the reach of ridicule. And now, grandma, that 
is the reason of the disappearance of the little red 
school house, which I heard my grandfather sJay 
once stood just atound the bend in the road. For 
there is no one now who would submit to the cus- 
tom of letting their Children go to school for ten 
or twenty years, and be treated as so many wild 
animals, when all that is necessary now is to per- 
form the operation and follow it with the week or 
ten days of association, to give to the Child the en- 
tire wea/llth of information w^hich had cost the pro- 
fessor a lifetime to acquire. 

“And there is another thing to which I will now 
call your attention, for fear that it may not be 
spoken of. Thalt is, by reading of books in my 
early life I saw you had some men who were call- 


82 


ed physicians and surgeons. If you should remain 
here for m'any yeiars, you would never see a doctor 
with his medicine case. We have, of course, some 
surgeons, but very few. One of the principal rea- 
sons jfor that is that our food, as well as our water, 
is absolutely pure. 

‘‘This Was also one of the discoveries of the 
same scientific association of which I speak, for 
by actual observation of the animals in the inter- 
ior of Africa, and other parts of the world, it was 
found that there were no deaths among them, ex- 
cept those that were brought about by accident or 
the cruelty of man. And it was apparent thai 
there were no medical men among them. 

“It was further shown, however, that at times 
there were some among them Which grew or be- 
came sick, and when this happened the animal se- 
lected some herb, which it alte and which in every 
case brought about the necessary change to re- 
sitore health. 

“These plants were found, and classified by bot- 
anists, and their different properties analyzed by 
dhemists, until it was posisible for a man to have 
his garden and his flowers, every one of which had 
in itself some property which, if 'taken in its native 
state, would do for man just What it had for ages 


83 


been doing for the wild beasts of the forests. That 
is the reason Why you will find in my garden so 
many varieties of plants and shrubs. Of course, 
it would not be safe for you to undertake to use 
them, but for me it is entirely safe, for their prop- 
erlties are known by al'l who have been raised in 
the last twenty-five years, or those who have been 
inoculated by blood from one of the professors who 
knew all their qtfal'ities. That i's one of the neces- 
sary qualifications of any and all well informed 
men 'and Women at this time. 

“Grandma, you used to give the baby teas, made 
from ho'arfibund, and caitnip, and other herbs, and 
they always got well. There is no good reason 
why these simple teas, which were well capable of 
curing a baby, would not cure a miati or woman 
when grown. The system in the one is the same 
as the system of the other, only that the one in the 
man is thalt much more able to assist the simple 
tea and the stronger stomiach to throw oflF that 
which is injurious tb it, and which causes the sick- 
ness. It is like the old-flasihioned method of teach- 
ing at school. You first teach the child the letters 
of the alphaibet, then it is given words to spell. In 
this it has the twenty-six letters of the alphabet as 
a basis, and from it musit of necess'ilty construct all 


84 


its words. When it grows older the words get 
harder and their uses and conubinations more and 
more difficult; but it is the same old twenty-six let- 
ters which musit be used in their construe tion. 

'‘As the child is given the simpile tea of one herb, 
as it grows older it may have the tea made frcum 
the mixfture of two hehbs, and so on till the sim- 
ple c'ondo'dtion grows into a compound produced 
from the mixture of many and varying herbs. This 
may now be necessary in desperate cases where 
the sick person h'as hliimseilf neglected to take heed 
ait the firsit calil of nature for the one herb, whidh, 
had he taken it at the time, would h'ave given him 
relief and m'ade him well. And one more word, 
grandm/a. If you have an ill, or ailment, at its first 
appearance go to the garden and look it over 
carefully, and the call of nature will designate not 
only the kind of plant, bult the identical one which 
it Will be absolutely safe for you to Use. Eat from 
it till nature again tells you that you have a suf- 
ficient quantity in your stomach, giving the neces- 
sary assistance to nalture to work, or enable it to 
work, its own cure. 

'T must stop here and loiok after some other 
things, but will doubtlesis be able to tell you more 
in the future.” 


85 


chapter IX 


“Well, Grandma,” said William, “now as to the 
children. Tihis learned body of scienWfic gentle- 
men who had been called together by Mr. Rosen- 
velit, did not all turn their entire time and attention 
to pfents, and the ascertainig of the various quali- 
ties of fruits they found, but as all the varied ani- 
mate had become so gentle thiat *they could be asso- 
ciaited with at pleasure, some of these men gave 
their whole time in making discoveries as to their 
means of living and reproduction. 

“Among them there were several kinds which 
pos'ses'sed qualities of restoring any part which had 
been lost or injured. It was discovered that there 
were various kinds of clays and muds, which, when 
the injured part was placed in them the old 
injured portion would by some process dteconnect 
itself from the body, and a new perfect limb grow 
in its stead. So these various clays and different 
muds were in their tuirn analyzed and found to 
contain germis of life in its lowest forms. Of course, 
it may seem a little cruel, but the fact is that these 


86 


men, after m'akting tlhis discovery, began taking 
certain parts of these animals and using the parts 
so taken as a basis for further experiments. 

''At first a leg or some olther part was taken 
from the animal, and the part of the body from 
which it had been rembved was placed in or cover- 
ed over wlitlh this earth, or clay. In an incredibly 
short time it w<as seen that a new member was 
growing to fill the place and perform the office of 
the part w'hich bad been removed. The experi- 
ment was then tesited as to whether or not the new 
part might not be formed by hand, and certain 
little avenues or holes made, so that the blood 
from the body mlighit freely circulate at once in and 
through the artificial limb thus prepared. And 
after repe'ated attemplts and trials it was made a 
success. 

"From s'mall parts of the body at first, the parts 
which were to be removed were increased in size 
and importance till it Was possible to take one of 
the animalis and make at least a dozen of the same 
species alt the same operation, and each of the 
twelve tihus don'structed was as perfect in. form 
and vigorous in life as the original one from 
which these parts had been taken. 

"As time went on these experiments were 


87 


broadened out and animals with more complicat- 
ed parts bectame the subjedts of these experiments. 
A's the men became more and more skilled, the 
tasks became less and les<s difficult to perform. 
Buit what I am heire tellHng required years of the 
mo'st deli'date experiments, and many spent their 
whole lives in this study. At last it was so perfect 
that now a bird may be taken and divided and 
these artificial parts attached, until, using not more 
than a half dozen of them as a basis, there can 
be produced more than one hundred, and each one 
as perfect in form, as vigorous in life and beauti- 
ful in p'luimage, as the one from which the initial 
part had been taken. 

was present at one of the entertainments 
given at the sea/t of experiment where it is most 
successfully practiced, about twenty years ago. 

'‘At thiat time I had a fine dog, which was the 
pride of the wh'oHe country, and. it happened to 
follow me on that ttip. On going into the great 
laboratory one of the professors took a great fancy 
to him, and said it was one of the finest specimens 
of the kind he had ever seen. He then asked me 
if he might duplicate him half a dozen times, so 
that he might have one for himself and some oth- 
ers for some of his special friends. At that time 


88 


I did not fully understand the consequence and the 
nature of such a request, but at Hast reluctantly 
consented. 

‘'Several of the attendants were ca'lled, and each 
taking a large portion of a certain quality of the 
earth, or other substance which they had, began to 
roll out certain portions of it, so as to resemble 
the respective parts of the dog. One made the 
legs, another the head and tail, while the third con- 
structed the body. After the whole five of the clay 
.dogs were made and the measurements of the live 
dog taken to see that they were all of the same 
proportions, some one part was taken from these 
clay images — no two of those taken being the 
same, so thiat each one of them was lacking in 
some particular part; that is, each one was five- 
sixlths of a perfect dog. 

“Then my live dog was placed upon one of the 
tables, and these men cut from his body just that 
part of him that was required to fill or take the 
lacking part of the clay dog, which was first oper- 
ated upon, and it was fitted into the proper place. 
This clay dog was then placed in a kind of pan and 
shoved into something like an oven, and another 
piece cut from my dog and fitted into that part 
of the second clay dog which Was missing. The 


89 


piece of clay which matched the piece taken from 
my dog was fitted into it, and this one, like the 
first, was placed in the pan and put in the furnace. 
Weill, this wenit on, to my astonishimen't, till there 
was 'all of my original dog gone but one-fifth part, 
and he had been reconstructed so that he was 
fivensixtbs day. Then his body, like the others, 
was placed in a pan and shoved into the oven. 
Grandma, you dan have no idea as to just how I 
felt, but I could noit help thinking, ‘Oh, w*here is 
my liittle dog gone ?’ thbugh the gentlemen kept on 
talking to me and tilling me things about which 
I, ctf course, knew niotthing at all. But I did not 
have much time to think, for in less time than it 
takes me to tell it 'to yiou, one of the attendants 
opened up the oven and gave a kind of whistle, 
jusit like he hlad heard me give for my dog when 
we firist came; and out jumped six dogs, all as 
much alike as though they had been one and the 
same dog. 

“Of course I was astonished, and the only thing 
I could do was to call ‘Carlo, why Carlo !’ and all 
six came and tried to climb all over me, ju'st as 
Carlo had been taught to do all his life. There were 
six Carlos, looking m'ore alike than that many 
twiins. You Would have been just like I was, I 


90 


guess, for I took hold of the hair, first on one, th^n 
on the oither, and tried to pull some of it out; but 
it was as fast as ever, and the dogs only whined 
when I pulled hard. 

‘‘But when the men asked me to get my dog and 
leave them the rest of them, I could not tell which 
was most Carlo, and I wianted to take him all back 
home, but the men said they had agreed to perform 
the operation m donsideration of the dbgs to be 
given to their friends. They would let me take 
two of them, but said that they would keep the 
rest, and if at any time I should run out of dogs 
of that kind, they would always keep one on hand 
so they might be able to make more. 

“When I was leaving the room, all the four dogs 
which I had left whined and cried, for they wanted 
to come away with me. For a Ibng time I would 
not tell my wife as to just how it was that I had 
taken Carlb away alone, and When we came back 
there were two of him, as I knew sihe would not 
believe What I said ; and, to tell the truth, I would 
not have believed her if she had told me of seeing 
anything as wonderful as that done. For a long 
time I kept looking and honestly expecting to find 
some morning that my dog Carlo had fallen all 
to pieces during the nig^ht, and when he was found 


91 


in the mbrning he would be nothing but a pile of 
clay; but it has not yet happened, and he has 
always seemed as bright and intelligent, and full of 
life and fun as he was before he followed me to 
the scientific apartments, where they are engaged 
in the propog*ation of animails in that Way. 

‘‘It has not been more than two years ago since 
I Was over to the ins*titultion, or rather, I was pas- 
siing near it, and my curiosity led me to stop and 
see if they still had their dogs. The gentleman 
melt me at the door and invited me in, but he failed 
to recognize me until I told him of the time that 
I had made him a present of four dogs. Then he 
remembered all about it, but he said they had im- 
proved upon the proces's, and did not Use as many 
assistants now as they did at that time, for they 
were now able to run the plant by- m'adhinery, and 
if I wis'hed ito see it work, to have a seat, as there 
was a gentleman who had a very valuable team of 
oxen, one of which had accidentally been killed, and 
he was coming to have a duplicate of the living 
one made. 

“Right then I Was gffad I had made the call, 
and it Was not long before the gentleman came, 
leading one of the best oxen I had ever seen, right 
into the room. Now this room had been remodel- 


92 


.ed since my firsit visit, and there was a machine 
something like the one you saw me use in prepar- 
ing our dinners, only it was a great deal larger. 
fThe hopper w*a:s so large tlhat when they put the 
isteer into it alone with an amount of the strange 
kind of earth, of equal weig^ht, iit was not yet quite 
full. After the steer and the earth had been 
properly placed in that large hopper the man in 
charge pushed a button at one corner of the ma- 
chine and the steer and earth all at once disappear- 
.ed, but in abt)ut thirty minutes, at another part of 
the same madhine, there appeared two oxen, bo'th 
looking exadtly like the one Which had been placed 
in the hopper but a few minutes before. The man 
paid the opei^ator for his services, drove both oxen 
out, and, yoking them together, drove them home. 

‘Tt was quite a while before my curiosity was ful- 
ly s'ajtisfied, and miany were the questions Which I 
asked. The ptotfessor seemed to answer all of 
them with that degree of certainty which had a 
'tendency to make me believe he knew. Among 
other things, he told me that he perfected another 
machine which he had used but a few times, and 
would show it to me. This new machine was by far 
the finesit one that I have ever seen. Its parts 
(Were made of the finest metals and other mater- 


93 


ials, and was mucih more intricate than any other 
he had shown me. But you may believe I was as- 
tonished when he explained that that was the one 
which he used in duplicating children, and that 
he was able to take one dhild and pass it through 
and it would come out a pair of twins. Or he was 
able by the use of one child to make as many du- 
plicates as he might require. The only trouble was 
that the same child could not be used oftener than 
once in every thirty days, as it took that length 
of time for it to fully recuperate from the little 
shock which was necessarily received in the process. 
If your attention has not yet been called to it, you 
will take particular pains to notice that there are 
a great many duj^licate children to be seen in this 
community, although you will not see any two in 
the same family, as they keep the duplicates scat- 
tered as much as posslMe, so that those taking 
them to raise will not get them mixed and claim 
the wrong child. 

''Now, grandma, I trust that my explanation has 
been made so that you undersitand it, and some- 
time in the future I w*!!! promise to show even 
more wonderful things to you. I tell you scientif- 
ic research and skill have and will accomplish 
everything in the next generation or two, and you 


94 


can keep your mind in the proper state so that you 
will not in the least be surprised, excited or shock- 
ed at anything you miay see or hear.” 

. To this long and full explanaition grandma 
brea:thed forth her usual, ‘‘Land sakes, John,” and 
John said, “What do you think of that, Mary?” 


95 


0apter X 


“Now, my dear grandparents,” said William the 
next morning, “if you will come out in the yard 
with me, we will sit down under the spreading 
tree in the cool shade and I will tell you some more 
of the things w‘hiidh ,will seem strange to you at 
first, but when you undersitand the matter they 
are such as will give you n'o surprise whatever.” 

He leading the way, they were soon all seated 
beneath the tree and William took from his pocket 
six other little instruments, giving two to each of 
his grandparents and keeping two to be used by 
himself. These were in the shape of small cups, 
each being one inch across its surface. 

“Lands sake's, William,” said grandma, “these 
look like they were made of glass. Why, they are 
double, and have water between the two parts. 
What in the world can they be for?” 

“You will put them on and we will see,” said 
William. Slip one of them over the sight of each 
eye, under the eyelid. It will give you no pain, 
as we use them now in the same manner that you 


96 


used to use spectacles/’ As he said this he put 
the ones he had retained for himself over his eyes 
and under the eyelids while grandma and grandpa 
did the same with theirs. 

''Why,” said grandma, "I don’t see much better 
than I could with my naked eye, and not near so 
well as I used to do with my glasses. What are 
they for?” 

Grandpa was always willing that his good wife 
should do all the questioning, so he remained 
quiet ; but his curiosity was no less than hers. 

"Now,” said William, "before I give to you 
these little globes which were used as we came 
from the marble house, I will tell you that the lit- 
tle glass things which you have placed over your 
eyes are one of the inventions, or discoveries, of 
that same scientific society of which I have said so 
much. They are made for the purpose of extend- 
ing the visionary power of the eye. By the use of 
them you will be able to see everything and any- 
where, and I wish to caution you under no cir- 
cumstance to look down. Always look upward, 
or in some other direction than down. 

"Here, now, you will take these little globes, and 
be careful to blow but the smallest amount of 
breath. Yes, you had better not even blow, but 


just let the breath go in a little without any blow- 
ing at all. 

“Gosh!’’ exclaimed John, “what do you think of 
that, M'ary? Why, I see everywhere and every- 
thing.” 

“Lands sakes! John,” said Mary, “I see the bad 
place. Let’s take the tarnel things off.” 

“Grandma,” said William, “do as I tell you. 
Don’t look down, look up.” 

“Why,” said grandpa, “What is that I see, an- 
other world?” 

“Yes,” s-aid William, “that is the moon right 
there that you are looking at. What do you see ?” 

“Lands s'akes, John, I see everything on the 
moon, too. Just look at the people. Why, they 
are acting just like they were birds. I do believe 
the young folks that I saw dancing in the garden 
the Other day are now having another picnic up 
there, and they all have the same kind of a little 
round thing that we have. Oh, ain’t it strange! 
I never did see 'the like in my life. There are their 
houses, and everything else.” 

“Now,” said William, “we will look off towards 
the right. Do you see the fishes in the sea ?” 

“Yes,” said John, “and the largest ones that f 
ever heard tell of. And more than that, there is a 


98 , 


large glass house out in the very middle of the 
ocean, and it has a long pipe or tube reaching up 
from its top to the surface of the water.” 

‘‘Why, John,” said Mary, “don’t you see the men 
down on the inside, and the big fishes being lei 
in and out of the house? What can that be for, 
William ?” 

“This is one of the places which the scientific 
men built, and if you will look closely on the east 
side you will see that there are several rows of 
marble cases, just like the ones you and John rest- 
ed in while at the marble house,” said William. 
“In each of these cases, if you will look you will 
see some person who is taking a rest; but not the 
kind of a rest w:hich you and John took, for you 
will see that there are small openings through 
which the air can pass, so that they are enabled to 
breathe while they are confined. 

“There is a process in use there, by which life it- 
self may be transferred. That is, the mental quali- 
ties of one animal can be transferred to any other, 
and when a m'an wishes to explore the depths of 
the seas and live as a fish for a certain length of 
time, he can go to this place, or some other like it, 
as there are a great ntany, and have his intellectual 
powers put into the body of the fish, then live as a 


99 


fish in the sea for any length of time he may de- 
sire. The bodies or persons which you see in the 
marble drawers along the rows in the marble build - 
ing, are those of persons w’ho are now living as 
fish, and the fish which you see going in and out 
and swimming through the water, are fish which 
have the minds of men in them. People often do 
this now, as they sometimes get tired and wish 
to get rested, and iPis this me'ans that is used in 
place of the vacation people used to take, for then 
they went hunting and fisfhing, or took trips of? in 
some foreign country, to climb mountains or look 
at the ruins of old buildings. Of course, it would 
not do to let the mind of the fish control the body 
of the man, and permit it to go and do as it pleased 
during the time that the minds were changed, as 
that would lead to an enormous amount of trou- 
ble, and in some rare cases render it impossible to 
restore to the proper ones the lives thus exchanged. 
It is for that reason that the fish-iminded man or 
woman is kept so closely in the marble case. At 
first this matter was overlooked, and it led to some 
of the most serious of consequences. There are a 
few of the fish which you see swimming close to the 
building, wihicli have the minds of men in them 
now, and it is the bodies of the men to whom these 


100 


minds once belonged, and that were used for the 
purpose of housing the mind of the fish, that were 
permitted to stray away. It may require years to 
locate and find them. It may even be worse than 
ithat, for the mind of the fisih m'ay have taken the 
body of the man into the Water and there been 
drowned. In this case there is no possible manner 
or method by which a restoration can be had, and 
the man’s mind must stay with the fish forever, or 
until it dies, which, in most cases, is a great many 
years. 

''There have been some experimenits by which 
some of those Who were lost were permitted to 
come out of tihe fish and occupy the body of some 
other man, but that was found to be wholly undesir- 
able. For instance, the first one so tried was the 
body of a wom'an which was used for the purpose 
of housing the mind of a man, and when he went 
home neither his wife nor children knew him, and 
when he went around on his farm to attend to his 
business and do his work, he found that his body 
was wholly incapable of performing any manual 
labor at all. It was so out of place that he became 
disgusted, and his family called him a witch and 
finally ran him off the place. Even had he been 
put in the body of a man there would have been 


101 


no one who would have recognized him ait hi-s old 
home and he had no idea in the world where the 
body had originally dome from. Even had he been 
able to locate the old home of the body, the minds 
and actions of the two men would have been so dif- 
ferent that the authorities would have pronounced 
him insane and taken him to some hospital. 

‘'lit was these unhappy occurrences which led to 
the necessity of putting the body of the men and 
women into the cases, where there was no possible 
opportunity for the mind of the fish so to control 
the body of the person as to bring about death or 
accident, or to prevent its being at hand at the pre- 
scribed time when the period of exchange had ter- 
minated and the mind of the man transferred back 
again to his own body.’’ 

“Lands s'akes!” shouited Mary, “I saw the bad 
place again. Let’s take these things off.” 

“No,” said William, “it is best for you to keep 
them on for a while longer. There are some other 
things which I wish you to see. You may now 
look down.” 

“Gosh,” said John, ‘Vhat do you think of that, 
Mary? Wlhy, we can look clear through the earth. 
How strange it appears! Why, it looks like an 
egg> the inside rolling and tumbling about, and the 


102 


outside thin as the shell of a duck egg. And then 
there are come places where there is nothing at all, 
just an empty space. Why look ! I just saw a cave- 
in over near the other side. What does that mean, 
William?’’ 

‘‘In your time,” said William, “you certainly 
read about earthquakes, and wlhat you saw over 
there was a small one. There are many which are 
quite large and do an immense amount of injury 
in the way of destroying whole cities, with all the 
inhabitants, but as a general thing the pressure of 
the smoke and gasses on the inside is sufficient to 
keep the thin cru'st of the earth resting upon a 
cushion-like foundation. When some big vol- 
cano opens up and permits a large amount of this 
ga's and smoke to escape, the pressure is weakened 
and some part of the shell of the earth is without 
sufficient support, and naturally has to drop in. 
But now it has been determined by the scientific 
association that as soon as the whole world adopts 
the method of obtaining heat as we have it here, 
by boring down to the open space occupied by 
these gasses, just below the crusts of the earth, 
those holes will give off all the surplus gasses so 
regularly and gradually that the uses of the volcano 


103 


will be ended and there will be no more earth- 
quakes.” 

‘Xook, look, John!” exclaimed Mary. ‘'Don’t 
you see that lump of gold right down there a little 
piece? Get a spade and let’s dig it up. It will 
make us rich. Get the spade, quick.” 

“Grandma,” s'aid William, “db not get in the 
least excited, for at any time you wish you may 
see everything which is in the earth, no difference 
how far away. Don’t you see the underground 
lakes and rivers, and all kind of rocks, and those 
big caves, just over there a little to the left of that 
great lake ? 

“Well, I think that you have seen sufficient for 
this morning and if you will give me those little 
globes we will go into the house and have some 
breakfast.” 

The husband and wife both did as requested, and 
gave William the two small globes which they had 
held in their hands all the time they were seeing 
the many strange sights. But the strange part ')f 
it W2s, that as soon as they had parted with the 
globes, they could see nothing more through the 
little instruments which were over their eyes than 
with any ordinary glasses or spectacles. Though 
both would have liked to ask another question or 


104 


two, they thought it best not to do so, inasmuch 
ns William was always sc kind and painstaking to 
impart the knowledge at times which suited him, 
and also furnished them plenty of food for thought, 
so that there never was a time When they were left 
alone when they were without some important sub- 
ject which they might discuss to their hearts con- 
tent. 


105 


chapter XI 


‘"Now, my dear grandparenits/’ said William, 
‘‘there is one more instrument about which I de- 
sire to tell you. Here it is. Each of you will take 
this small tube and place it in the left ear. Do 
nott push it in, but gently insert the small end, just 
far enough so that it will not fall out.” 

This they both did, and grandma as usual said : 
“Willi'am, there is nothing to this, only it tickles 
my ear the least little bit. What is iit for?” 

“Well grandma,” said William, “that is also one 
of the instruments whidh that same scientific asso- 
ciation of learned men devised for the purpose of 
enabling persons to hear much better than they 
can by nature. In fact, you can hear everything 
in the way of sound which is made at any point 
ill the world.” 

“But,” said grandma, “1 do not hear any better 
with it in my ear than I do without it. What is the 
matter with the one you gave to me? Say, John, 
can you hear with yours any better than with your 
own ears?” 


106 


Before John had time to answer, William said : 
‘‘You are not ready for using it as yet. If you will 
take this same little globe, and let the very small- 
est portion of a breath in it — do not blow — you 
will then be ready to hear something. But before 
I give these globes to you, I wish to tell you that 
the band is playing in the opera house in the city 
of St. Petersburg, and it is for the purpose of giv- 
ing you an opportunity to hear the fine music that 
I called you out of the house and gave you these 
insitruments. 

“Use the globe now as I said, and hold it in your 
hand.’’ This grandma did, and immediately be- 
came so interested, that for a moment she even 
stopped breathing. The world and everything else 
were dead to her as she was completely carried away 
by the sweet strains of music. She had often heard 
music before, but never until now did she listen to 
strain after strain. Wafted thousands of miles on the 
gentle breezes and finally appearing to sink into her 
very soul and carry her aWay, as if upon the wings 
of ecstasy itself. 

When the band finally ceased playing, she took 
the small tube from her ear and turning to John, 
said : “Jolhn, that was the finest music which was 
ever made, Uands sake, William, where did you 


107 


get this ? Is there any more ? I want to buy one 
so as to have it with me all the time.” But Wil- 
liam told her it was necessary for him to give fur- 
ther instructions regarding its uses before he would 
or could entrust it to her, and let her have posses- 
sion of it all the time. 

‘‘For,” s'aid he, “if one should have it and not 
know how to use it, the most serious consequences 
might happen. Now, in order to use it successful- 
ly, .at the time you place it in your ear you must 
have your mind centered upon some individual 
from whom you desire to hear, or upon some fixed 
spot from which you wish to hear just what is go- 
ing on there. Of course, you may connect with 
several individuals at the same time, but under no 
circumsltances must you connect with several dif- 
ferent localities at the same moment. And what 
would be far more disastrous, would be to turn it 
loose, so that it would gather the sounds from all 
parts of the world at once. This of itself would 
make you deaf, and cause you to lose your hearing 
altogether. Now we will listen to the teamsters 
on the wharf m the city of New Orleans, and to the 
darkeys as they load the ship standing near the up- 
per end of the long dock.” 

Grandma replaced the instrument in her ear, and 


108 


John made tihe same use of his. Soon there was a 
smile, and then one of those hearty ''ha! ha’s!’ 
from John, as he said, "Well, don’t it beat the 
world the way the darkeys sing Swanee River? I 
never did hear it sung that well before.” 

"Hush up, John,” said grandma, "keep still and 
let us hear it aii sung.” 

After the song had ended, William said they 
would now take the instruments out again, which 
they did. 

"Now,” said he, "we will listen to the soldier 
boys fire a salute to the commanding officer at 
Manila, as there is one of the large battle ships, 
with one of the commanding officers, just entering 
the harbor. Replace them and listen.” 

"Lands sakes,” cried grandma, as she hastily re- 
moved the little instrument, "wiiat a noise ! what a 
noise ! Boom, boom, boom — it nearly deafened 
m.e.” 

"Keep it out a moment longer, grandma,” said 
Willi'aim. "There is a bird singing in the park at 
San Francisco. You may now put it in again and 
listen to its warbling notes.” 

"Ah,” said John, "that beats our own mocking 
bird all to pieces. Don’t it, Mary?” And Mary 
said that it did. 


109 


‘‘Now/’ said William, “I think you may give me 
the small globes and also the tubes which you 
placed in your ears. I will take them and put 
them away, and will tell you some other uses in a 
day or so. 


no 


(Rapter XII 


One day when William had cause to be absent 
all day, though he had intended to return before 
the noon hour, grandma 'thought that she would 
give her huslband a treat in the nature of a fine 
dinner. With that end in view, at about half past 
eleven o’clock she told John that they would go to 
the house and have dinner alone, and enjoy them- 
selves once more as they had in their younger 
days. 

To this proposition John at first demurred, but 
when his good wife assured him that she knew that 
she was fully competent to run the ‘‘contraption” 
which sat upon the three-legged stool, with the bag 
of earth by its side, he gave in and they entered 
the dining room. 

The good wife asked John for the privilege of 
sitting at the head of the table, and faithfully prom- 
ised to work the machine as successfully as she had 
seen William do, as it was certainly no trick at all. 
“All you have to do is to put in a spoonful of 


111 


earth/’ she said, ‘‘and out will come any article 
of diet which migiht be called for.” 

“My dear husband,” she continued, “would you 
like some fried chicken for your dinner?” And af- 
ter being told he would, she proceeded to put in 
the required spoonful of earth from the bag, and 
then pushed the same button, as she thought, that 
William had used upon a former occasion. But 
what was her astonishment when she held the plate 
under the spout, to see nothing but the dirt itself 
come pouring out. She did not understand that, 
and told her husband that she would try it again , 
that it was on account of her having failed to push 
the button sufficiently hard. 

Ag'ain she put the earth from the plate into the 
machine, and gaye the button a vigorous push and 
held the plate under the spout. The same result 
followed, and the well pulverized earth came out 
again. 

“I do not understand just what that means,” 
said she, “but will try it once more.” So she re- 
dumped the powdered earth into the hopper, push- 
ed the button again, held the plate in the proper 
place, and again it was loaded with the same old 
earth. 

She was not to be outdone in this manner, how- 


112 


ever, and told her husband that she believed the 
supply of chicken was all used up. She told him 
to call for some other kind of meat. Then her hus- 
band said he would take a piece of mutton chop. 
Another spoonful of earth was shoveled into the 
hopper, and after selecting another button, it was 
pushed, as she had done with the other. This time 
there came out of the spout the same earth, look- 
ing as much like mutton chops as any finely pul-^ 
verized earth ever did when picked up in the 
middle of the road. 

“Lands sakes said the wife, '‘this tarnel thing 
must be out of that kind of meat also. You will 
now ask for some ste^k, tor I think there must be a 
supply of that on hand yet, as we have had but 
one piece siince we came here ; and if the thing is 
loaded at all it certainly has more than one piece 
in it.'' This wias tried with a fresh spoonful of 
earth, taken from the bag, but terminated with the 
self same result. 

"Mary," said John, "'maybe the thing will not 
work at all for a woman. Let me try it myself.'’ 
This Mary would not do. She said if the thing 
could be worked by a .mian there was no good rea- 
son in the world why it should not work when she 
was operating it. 


113 


‘‘Now John/’ said she, “do not be so choicy 
about what you wish to eat. Tell me that you will 
take a glass of buttermilk. I know the button 
which William pushed when you called for that, 
when he sat here.” 

John said that was all right, and that most any- 
thing at all wou)M do, ais he w'a's getting tired of 
waiting and was as hungry as a wolf. Then Mary 
again put in haltf a spoonful of earth, just as Wil- 
liam had done, pushed the same identical button 
just around the corner, held the glass under th‘.‘ 
buttermilk spout, but nothing but the pulverized 
earth came in the glaiss. 

“Try it on potatoes,” said John, “and see what 
effect that will have.” So in went another spoon- 
ful of the earth, and another button was pushed ; 
but nothing but the pure earth caime out and filled 
the plate which she had held for the purpose of re- 
ceiving the potatoes. 

“John,” said she, “you did not tell me the way 
you wanted your pot'atoes cooked. Now if you 
will tell me whether they are to be fried, roasted or 
boiled with the skins on them, I know I can make 
the contraption work. Now which way is it?” 

“Well,” said John, “I will take them boiled, if it 
makes no difference to you.” 


114 


Another spoonful of dirt went Into the hopper, 
another button was pushed, the pPate held under 
the spout, but only caught so much dirt. 

''Now,’’ said the wife, "there must be something 
wrong with this machine. I never heard of a ma- 
chine before which would work all right for one 
person and not do anything at all for another. Let 
me look the thing over some, and then try it 
again.” 

"Mary,” said John, "it may be that there is a 
time lock arrangement on it, and if so it will only 
work at stated times. You know we came in here 
a half hour before twelve, and as it is just noon, 
try it again. Please give me a small piece of ham.” 

"All right,” said his wife, "and suiting the action 
to the word, put in one more spoonful of earth, 
and touched the "ham” button but with the same 
old results — dirt and nothing but dirt, came out of 
the machine. 

"It can’t be that,” said Mary, "I do not see any 
clock att'aichment to it anywhere. Now call for 
something else. There is something in its cup- 
board, somewhere. What will you have?” 

"Well,” s'aid John, "give me a 'corn dodger’ if 
you have some on hand.” The corn dodger but- 


115 


ton was pushed, and the same pulverized earth 
came out, as it had done each time before. 

'‘Now,’’ siaid John, "do get up and let me try it. 
I tell you I do not think that it can be worked by 
a woman. I do know that a man who has a wife 
who i's as good a cook as you are would have no 
need in the wotld for one of these things. Just you 
let me try it once.” 

The good w'ife was a little slow getting up from 
her seat at the head of the taible, for of all things 
in the world she hated, it was to acknowledge de- 
feat. But she did as her husiband had requested, 
and he himfself sat down in her place. 

"Now, my dear wife,” said he, "what will you 
have for your dinner? Will a nice piece of fried 
chicken set well on your stomach?” 

"Lands sakes,” said she, "anything will do, as I 
am awfully hungry. Please give me something to 
eat, and in fact most anything will do.” Then 
John put a spoonful of earth in the hopper and 
pushed the button. But the result was just the 
same as it had been with the wife — nothing but 
dirt, dirt all the time. 

"Gosh!” said John, "Mary, what do you think of 
that? Why, we will starve unleiss William should 
come home. There is nothing on the place to 


116 


cook, and even if there were there is no fire to cook 
it with. In alll the time we have been here I have 
not seen an ant, or a bug of any kind, and now T 
know the reason. Why, they would just starve to 
death. I will try once more on some simple thing, 
say mush and milk. Will you have a bowl of mush 
and milk, my dear wife 

'‘Yes,’' said she, "I would like to have two bowls 
of good mush and milk, one for you and the other 
for me.” Into the hopper John put a heaping 
spoonful of the earth, and held the mush bowl un- 
der the spout, but nothing but the pulverized earth 
came out of the machine. 

"Well now, Mary,” said John, "we are certainly 
outdone. Can it be that we did not watch William 
as closely as we sihould, and get the hang of this 
m!a'chine, as often as we saw him use it ? I guess 
we had best go out in the orchard and get some 
fruit, and put dinner off till Willi'am gets home. 
It may be that he is entirely out of eatables, and 
has gone to his grocer to lay in a new supply. 
He certainly will be home before long, so let us go 
on out, as we surely can make one meal out of the 
fine fruit which we s'aw out in the orchard.” So 
saying, they both left the house. 

But just as they had gotten out of tihe door, they 


117 


saw William coming; and Mary said, 
the lands sake, do not tell him anything about try- 
ing to work the little ‘contraption/ It will never 
do.” 

“All right,’’ said John. “Now Mary, he will 
never find it out unless you do the telling your- 
self.” 

“Now grandp'arents,” said William, as soon as 
he reached them, “I did not intend to be gone so 
long, and as I expect you are both very hungry we 
will go in the house and have our dinner.” To this 
they both assented, but Mary kept a close watch 
upon him, to see just how it was that he fed the 
things which were to be eaten, into the machine. 
But look as closeiy as she could, she saw nothing. 
J^or William went in at once and, sitting down at 
his accustomed place, said : 

“Now Grandma, what will you have for din- 
ner?” 

“You will please give me a piece of fried chick- 
en, William.” 

“All right,” said he, and taking a spoonful of 
the very same earth which she and her huband had 
been running through the machine time and time 
again, put it into the hopper, and held the plate un- 
der the same spout as she had. Out came a fine 


118 


thigh of chicken, looking as though it had been 
fried in butter. This he passed to the badly disap- 
pointed lady, for as hungry as she was, she did 
wish that nothing but dirt would come down the 
spouSt and out on her plate. He now served din- 
ner, in the same m’anner as he had done so often 
before. But on a little more elaborate scale, for 
grandma had tried to use most every button on the 
“contr*aption'' in filling her orders. 

After dinner was over, William said : ‘^Grandma, 
if you will take my seat here I Will now show you 
how to use this machine, as it is somewhat compli- 
cated. But before you come, I will tell you it is 
one of the discoveries, or inventions, of that scien- 
tific assembly, about which I have spoken to you 
so many times before. Now come on and take my 
seat here at the head of the table, Where you will 
sit for many years, and pass around the many good 
and wholesome things which m'ay be produced 
simply for the calling.’’ 

Grandima took the proffered seat, but she had no 
idea in the world that it would wohk any better for 
her than it had be'fore, just because William him- 
self was present. 

‘'Now, grandma,” said William, “that little ma- 
chine Within itself is nothing. You might sit 


119 


where you are all day long, and do your very best 
^and not be alble to get enough to feed a cricket. 
I was in hopes that at some time when I was ab- 
sent you and your husiband should have made the 
trial, and been able to verify my statement. You 
.will now take thi's little globe and blow just the 
least amount of breath into it, then put into the 
hopper the spoonful of earth, hold the globe in one 
hand and push the button with the other, and it 
will bring forth just the kind of food which has 
.been called for. More than that, you can repeat it 
as often as occasion requires and thus obtain any 
quantity you wish. Now, please give me a glass of 
milk.” 

Grandma took the globe, placed the earth in the 
hopper, just as she had done when she and her 
husband were 'at the table and making such des- 
perate and unsuccessful efforts to obtain something 
to satisfy their appetites. Then the little globe 
was taken in the left hand and the button pressed. 
Out came the earth just the same as it did when she 
had so often tried it before. 

‘"William,” said she, “it will not work for me at 
all.” 

“Now Grandma,” said William, “you did not 
follow my instructions at all. It will work for you 


120 


just as well as it will for me or anybody else. Blow 
a little breath into the globe. You failed to do 
that the other time. Try it now, and be convince‘d. 
Then grandma blew some breath in the globe, 
placed it upon her lap, put a spoonful of earth in- 
to the hopper, and taking hold of the globe again 
with her left hand pushed the button with her 
right. To her astonishment out came the glassful 
of the sweetest of milk, all covered over with thick 
cream. 

'Xands sake,” exclaimed M'ary. ‘‘John, I told 
you I could work it as good as anybody.” 

'‘Gosh, Mary,” said John, "but you could not do 
it when you tried it when William was not at 
home.” 


121 


(Rapter XIII 


Wiilliam had by this time fully explained to his 
great-great-great grandparents many of the dis- 
coveries and inventions which were amongst the 
most important that had been made during the 
time they had been in their marble cases, and at 
rest in the marble house. He had fulfilled his mis- 
sion, for the present at least, and was him'self going 
to rest for one thousand years. 

It was one of those mornings which even in our 
day is filled with sunshine, the sweet songs of birds, 
odors from ripening fruits, and the healthy, in- 
vigorating scent from the perfume-laden flowers. 
The whole world seemed as if it had been convert- 
ed into a paradise. Everywhere the waving grass, 
•the leaves of the tree's and the fine smelling flowers 
in the gatden were laden with honey dew, and the 
bu'sy bees were gathering and storing it away. The 
humming birds were flitting from flower to flower, 
the lark had returned from his soaring to get the 
first peep of dawn, and was now resting upon a 
waving boug'h, trilling forth his song of love. 


122 


''Grandparents, "said William, "I wish to talk 
with you this morning, and fully explain to you 
some of the intricacies of the little globe you so 
often have used. Simple as it dou'btless appears 
to you, both as to its construction and its use, it 
has powers with which you must be acquainted in 
at least a limited degree, before it is safe to entrust 
it to you and leave it always in your possession. 
And now I will proceed to tell you something 
about this, the mo«t important of all discoveries 
and inventions. Here is one for each of you, take 
them and heed my sayings, and under all circum- 
stances follow my instructions. 

"The mechanism and construction of these are 
the most important of all which the scientific asso- 
ciation, in all its years of toil and labor, was able to 
produce. With them in your possession there is 
but little which can be accomplished. They fur- 
nisih the foundation of all others which may be 
used, and its absence renders all others worthless. 

"Power is the one element which causes all 
heavenly bodies to revolve, the waves of the sea 
to roll mountain high, the earthquake to make the 
world tremble, the sun to give forth its brightest 
rays and keep each star in its proper place in the 
great universe. Without it all would be disorder 


123 


and chaos itself. Yet great as it is, and as diversi- 
fied its uses, it remained merely local till it was as- 
certained by that learned body that its transmission 
was a possibility. To the end that it might be ac- 
complished, years and years of scientific research 
and experiment were prosecuted, until at last, as 
with the dawn of the new creation, it became 
known and its intricate process fully understood. 

“Until that fact was made known all power in 
use by man was secured by his own efforts, and 
accoimplis'hed by the harnessing of certain of the 
elements in such a manner as to bring about their 
utter de'struetion. There was the . consuming of 
the coal by fire that the water might be generated 
into a steam to move the engine, to cause the 
gasses to come forth that light might be had, or 
electricity loaded upon wires and carried to its des- 
tination. It was a system of destruction and un- 
warranted invasiion upon the supplies stored in the 
bowels of the earth, without even the slightest pos- 
sibility of their restoration when utter exhaustion 
should eventually take place. 

“Forest after forest was hewed down, and the 
giant trees converted into that which in a few years 
rotted and became part and parcel of the mother 
earth again. To replace those decayed varied parts 


124 


and parcels into which it had been sawed and hew- 
ed, more forests were felled until the groves, ‘God’s 
first temples,’ were literally removed from the 
whole face of the earth. \ 

“Down deep into the bowels of the earth man 
dug, and brought to its surface the ‘black and 
shining diamonds, ton after ton, and by combus- 
tion rendered it a worthless mass of smoldering 
embers and heaps of ashes, in order that power 
might be had to turn the wheels of progress. Man’s 
sole enjoyment, his every pleasure, his ultimate 
design and purpose were founded upon destruction 
alone. It appeared that the sole and only cause for 
his existence was, that the beauties of nature and 
the handiwork of God might be destroyed, and the 
world fitted for the habitation of owls and bats 
alone. 

“Yet that all-wise providence in the beginning 
foresaw just su'ch events, and implanted in the 
mind of man, the crown prince of all destruction, 
the one element alone which would and should 
lead to the ultimate preservation of that which He 
created. He gave to man that untiring energy, 
coupled with genius, the love of research into the 
hidden mysteries, and that understanding by Which 


125 


the laws of nature might be interpreted, and the 
ability to apply them. 

“For untold centuries the vast law book of 
nature was unread and destruction continued the 
pastime of man. And had it not been for the 
hearty welcome given in the African wilds by the 
elephant, and the utterance of its speech of wel- 
come, it would doubtless have continued for ages 
yet to come. It was those few words which 
brought peace, stopped the intended destruction 
of life and led to the appointment and selection of 
that intelligent, learned and wise body of scientif- 
ic men, and the vast good which has followed for 
the benefit of all mankind. 

“The law of gravitation, that Vast force which 
requires each particular thing to remain still, had 
by the same power applied, given to others motion. 
Its weight will lift, and its very stillness move. 
That universal law is everywhere, and its proper 
understanding known to all. 

“These small globes are so constructed that the 
breath of man, when forced within, gathers all the 
latent power of the universe itself and causes it to 
become the servant of mankind. The pressure of 
the atmosphere upon land and sea combined, form 
the motive power to carry his body through space. 


126 


gives distance to his eyes and transmits all sound 
at his bidding. Without it, m'an is man alone ; with 
it, he is king of kings, with the world and other 
planets as his possessions. 

‘'Alone, he can sit in his door yard and by the 
use of the shallow, dish-like cups I now hand you, 
see to the very uttermost ends of the earth, and 
into its innermo’st hidden parts. And by the use 
of the small tube to be inserted in the ear, his 
power of hearing is so increased that the tread 
of a fly on the opposite side of the earth, is as 
readily heard as the boom of the mightiest cannon. 

“Simple as these all appear to you in size and 
construction, the force possessed by each is such 
that the most dire resitlts will follow their wrong 
or improper use. Both the smiall glas's-like cups 
for the eyes and the tubes for the ear are utterly 
useless at all times when the one who desires their 
aid has not the small g^lobe in his possession. The 
globe is itself nothing without the bre'ath of life 
blown into it by the party seeking its assistance. 
vThe breath of one person will have no effect at all 
while the globe is in the possession of the other. 

“With these insitructions I turn them all over to 
you, to use as your own and as your inclinations 
may desire. 


127 


'‘This farm, the place where I was born and upon 
which I have spent my whole life, is to me the dear- 
est spot on earth. Over its small hills as a boy I 
have played, chased the rabbit to its hiding place, 
and the squirrel to his hollow far up in the trees. 
The birds cheered me with their music, which sank 
deep in my heart and made of me a better man. 
From its cool spring I have quenched my thirst 
year after year and watched its trickling stream 
flow towards the mighty ocean, there to be s-wal- 
lowed up in its em/brace and become as nothing. 

‘‘From the heavy laden trees, weighted with 
their mighty loads of fruits, I have eaten from the 
labor of others, and in return for such kindness 
of my ancestors I have planted other orchards that 
those who follow me in their turn may be benefit- 
ted and delighted, and sing praises of my good 
conduct. 

“But oh, what changes have come in my time! 
It is a new world, shoft as the span of fifty years 
has been. The hills alone are witnesses of my 
coming and of my departure, and I trust of my 
return again. All else hais passed and gone, leav- 
ing the storehouse of memory well fitted with 
happy thoughts, both of the things done, and those 
left undone. It is from the very depths of my soul 


128 


that I can say that I have made a g(X)d fight, that 
the battle is over, the victory won, and now I am 
ready to restore that which is yours to you, and go 
to that Resting House of marble and there remain 
for one thousand years. Just what may be in 
store for me on my awakening, no mortal can tell, 
no imagination conjecture. It is with a feeling 
somewhat akin to sorrow mixed and mingled 
with an element of joy, that I bid you a last fare- 
well.” 


THE END. 


I 





• • 








